Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC
THE US DEPARTMENT of Defense (DoD) expects to shave $896 million from its $16.6 billion McDonnell Douglas C-17 programme through multi-year procurement .
The C-17 acquisition decision memorandum (ADM), released by DoD procurement chief Paul Kaminski, seeks congressional approval to purchase the remaining 80 C-17s over a seven-year period from fiscal year 1997 through to 2003. The US Air Force had previously committed itself to 40 aircraft.
The ADM schedule calls for funding of eight aircraft in FY1997, followed by nine in 1998 and 13 in 1999. A further 45 C-17s are due between 2000 and 2002, with the final five aircraft scheduled to arrive in 2003. Congress has historically proved reluctant to approve such multi-year procurement, however.
In November 1995, MDC won DoD endorsement for the C-17. Cost overruns and schedule delays had prompted senior Pentagon officials to consider buying a modified Boeing 747-400F (the C-33) or a new version of the Lockheed Martin C-5.
The ADM also directs the USAF to continue pursuing the civil reserve air fleet (CRAF) enhancement study initiated in November. The USAF may modify some C-5A/Bs for airdrops, and the Pentagon would consider supplementing the fleet with the 747-400F.
"We do want to look at enhancing CRAF by seeing if suitable incentives can be provided [to operators] to introduce modified 747-400Fs into the fleet. I'm not convinced we can do this, but it's worth a serious look," Kaminski says.
Source: Flight International
