Stop C-17 production for Air Force

[unhappycamper]

Stop C-17 production for Air Force
By Robert F. Dorr

If I wanted Pentagon dollars to pour into my neighborhood, I would want a senator like Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii.

A World War II hero and a master dealmaker on Capitol Hill, Inouye is leading the charge to insert money for 10 C-17 Globemaster III transports into the fiscal 2010 defense appropriations bill.

He was instrumental in getting C-17 units stationed in Alaska and Hawaii, the first time strategic airlifters have operated outside the 48 contiguous states. And he helped make Hawaii the only state with an Air National Guard squadron of F-22 Raptor fighters.

The Raptors are justified. When Hawaii was still a U.S. territory and had no senators, carrier-based Japanese warplanes swarmed down on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor and brought us into World War II.

It’s hard, though, to make the case for the C-17s. A true strategic airlifter wouldn’t need to be forward-based to carry out its ocean-spanning mission. But the Globemaster III has inadequate range, even after years of tinkering with the design of its fuel tanks.


Rest of article at: http://militarytimes.com/community/opinion/airforce_opinion_c17_122109a/



unhappycamper comment: At $218 million a pop, I would have thought they ironed out the bugs --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-17_Globemaster_III

[DrDan]

1. and it has been around for nearly 20 years - makes you wonder what all that tinkering was about.

seems we should have had a solution years ago

[sharp_stick]

2. On edit: Ignore

I screwed up my dates and C numbers