A new website has been launched in support of the Boeing C-17 Globemaster, which may be right up there with the Queen Mary as a Long Beach icon after all the attention that has surrounded the program in the past few months. Plans to renew orders for more planes have been on-again off-again in Washington D.C. – a decision that holds some 5,000 Long Beach jobs in the balance. Lately, all has been quiet on the C-17 front, but the Department of Defense has maintained that it would rather cut than renew its orders next year. Boeing has adapted by increasing sales to private buyers in foregin countries, but losing Defense purchases would be a huge hit.
Thus, C17forAmerica.com, which includes video testimony from Boeing employees and encourages visitors to contact their local politicians for support. It also provides a map that shows the importance of the C-17 program to every state (California is one of three states with an economic impact exceeding $700 million, leading the way with $1.7 billion).