2:15pm | Following yesterday’s news that the 2011 Defense Department budget calls for an end to the Boeing C-17 program and does not include any new orders for the aircraft, Boeing’s C-17 Program spokesperson Jerry Drelling released a statement about the future of the program:
“While we do not comment on our lobbying activities, we can say that Boeing is focusing our efforts on the demand for affordable, reliable and capable airlift globally. We intend to aggressively seek international sales of the C-17. US orders will ultimately be needed in the future to keep the line open. It is important to preserve this vital airlift program that is the only military wide body manufacturing capability in the United States. Preserving this program provides an affordable option to the U.S. Air Force and Congress if they need to fill what we believe is a growing demand for airlift.”
Foreign nations have recently submitted orders or expressed serious interest in submitting orders, but the loss of sales to the United States would be a blow to the C-17 program that threatens nearly 5,000 jobs in Long Beach. The aircraft is assembled almost entirely in Long Beach.
Those foreign orders and remaining orders from the Department of Defense are enough to keep the Boeing C-17 program alive until at least September of 2012, according to an early January conversation between spokesperson Jerry Drelling and the lbpost.com.
Drelling said during that conversation that Boeing expects the United States to eventually request
new designs for a C-17 replacement aircraft, although that request may not come until around 2020. When it comes time to produce that replacement model, Drelling said, whether or not it is built in Long Beach will largely depend on whether or not the C-17 is being assembled in the city.
What that means is that if the C-17 production line ends in Long Beach, the aircraft that replaces the C-17 years from now has a diminished chance of being assembled here as well.
Update 4:00pm | Councilmember Gary DeLong released the following statement this afternoon to the lbpost.com: “The C-17 production line is a national asset that we are proud to have here in Long Beach. We hope the Pentagon will continue to review their airlift needs and consider the C-17 as a more cost-effective alternative to the expensive and often unreliable C-5. Retiring additional C-5s and replacing them with C-17s would help offset the cost and keep this job-generating asset in Long Beach.”
Last night, Councilmember Robert Garcia posted the following status update on his Facebook page: “[Robert Garcia] is disappointed that President Obama eliminated funding for Boeing’s C-17 in his proposed 2011 budget. The C-17 program provides over 5,000 jobs at our Long Beach plant, and is used extensively by our military, most recently for humanitarian efforts in Haiti. As a member of the Federal Legislative committee, you can bet we are going to fight this one in Washington.”
Councilmembers DeLong and Garcia are members of the Long Beach City Council’s Federal Legislation Committee.
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Defense Budget Calls To Eliminate C-17 Program
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