Originally Posted by
Asturias56
TBH I always thought the decision to stop building the C-17 was a mistake... they could still be selling them
Actually, the last 10 C-17's were built without buyers on the assumption that someone would want them (and yes, they were all sold, although the last one sold four years after it was built). Building billions of dollars worth of aircraft without known buyers is very, very risky.
At best, continued production of the C-17 would have been at a very low (i.e. uneconomical) rate. Besides, I doubt the EU would
ever admit the A400M was a mistake and buy C-17s instead (although a good argument could made that they should have ordered C-17s instead of pouring $billions into the A400 development).