The fifth aircraft is already in production and should be delivered by the end of September...THIS YEAR!
Not too sure about that, The decision to purchase hasn't exactly been made, just a letter of inquiry essentially. The RAAF and in particular DMO have to shore up the money first, dip into a number of other buckets and make sure the dosh is there before it goes ahead. My point was that the original reporting (from newspapers mind you) was a bit odd seeing that it was saying the decision to purchase wasn't going to be made until after the production line had closed. Journo's go their numbers wrong no doubt.
There are currently 4 unassigned C-17's sitting out the front of the production facility. I'm almost certain that one of those would go to the RAAF if the decision is made soon.