McDONNELL DOUGLAS "...has dug itself out of a sizeable hole" and is now moving forward with the C-17 military-transport programme, says Donald Kozlowski, the firm's senior vice-president for the project.
Kozlowski admits, however, that the once-troubled C-17 project must still overcome hurdles before the US Department of Defense (DoD) makes a decision in November on whether to buy the full complement of 120 C-17s or to purchase several Non-developmental Airlift Aircraft (NDAA).
DoD dissatisfaction with programme management prompted the Pentagon to limit its commitment to 40 Globemaster IIIs.
Despite the company's progress, the Pentagon continues to hedge its bets, and it recently issued a second NDAA draft request for proposals. Candidate aircraft include the Boeing 747-400F, the MDC MD-11, a new version of the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy and used commercial-cargo transports, which would be heavily modified.
US Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall says that the C-17 is the USAF's "highest near-term modernisation priority". She says that the "future core air-lifter" is already becoming a success story, "...replacing the Lockheed C-141 at lower operating costs, while delivering C-5 type payloads into Lockheed C-130-size airfields". She adds, however, that NDAA aircraft may also be purchased to augment the C-17's capabilities.
Kozlowski says that the USAF still needs 120 C-17s, and he is attempting to bring down the C-17 unit cost, which is now about $270 million, excluding the price of the engine.
The revised cost will be submitted to the USAF in August. Kozlowski says that the Pentagon will be "pleasantly surprised".
Before then, however, the C-17 faces a critical reliability, maintainability and availability demonstration in July, which will determine whether the Pentagon order will move beyond 40 aircraft.
Source: Flight International
