RNZAF C-17s

[KenV]

Boeing say 2 unassigned, but they won't say who has signed up for the others. India and Algeria also in the market but may already have aircraft assigned. I believe there are 12 in all still to roll off the line, of which 10 have been assigned.

There were 13 white tails. Boeing killed three of them. It was cheaper to convert the long lead parts (landing gear, wing spars, etc) already purchased for the last three aircraft into spares than to use those parts to build three complete jets.

Of the remaining 10 white tails, 8 are spoken for, with the contract for two of them already signed. There are only 2 white tails remaining that have no identified buyers, but Boeing has interest from at least 4 different buyers. India in not one of them. India is happy with their 10 already ordered.

[BBadanov]

From open source, I see that Australia (RAAF) signed an LOA for up to 4 of the white tails - 2 confirmed orders, and 2 options (evidently to be confirmed with the release of our 2015 White Paper).

[ORAC]

Another one spoken for....

Canada Increases Global Reach With New Military Transporter

OTTAWA — Canada's defense minister announced Friday the addition of a fifth military transport jumbo jet to its fleet, as the nation continues expanding its combat and humanitarian reach around the world........

Canada is paying Can$415 million (US$358 million) to buy and service the aircraft over 12 years. Canadian airmen will pick up the order in the spring from Boeing's Long Beach, Florida assembly plant.

[Heathrow Harry]

I really don't understand why Mr B would close the line - there seems to be a steady (but low) tick over of orders coming through - certainly more than they are currently getting for the 747-8

What else are they going to use the space for? Might be 20 years before a new airlifter is ordered

[Martin the Martian]

It is quite ironic that only now as the line is being closed interest in the C-17 from international quarters is bigger than ever. I can certainly see India being in the market for more C-17s, and more Middle East countries. I agree it would be a mistake for Boeing to close the line permanently.

[tdracer]

I really don't understand why Mr B would close the line - there seems to be a steady (but low) tick over of orders coming through

The overhead to keep a line open is quite high, and when the rate drops below ~1 month it becomes prohibitively expensive unless you can sell the airplane at a huge premium. It's not just the final assembly - it's all the vendors along the way that can't use that capability for other things. In some cases they can just take the tooling and store it out back, but in other cases they have dedicated setups that take up huge areas.
That helped kill the 757 - the rate dropped low enough that the overhead to keep the line open was so high as to make the aircraft too expensive to sell at a profit.
BTW, Boeing has been telling the world they were close to shutting down the C-17 line for five years, and if you really wanted one you'd better speak now. It was a huge gamble just to do what they did - ~$2.5 billion worth of white tails, that may or may not sell...

[Heathrow Harry]

maybe just sell the line to China................... or Brazil

[TEEEJ]

HH wrote

maybe just sell the line to China.

China's C-17 Clone Faces Its 'Peers' At The Zhuhai Air Show

Chinese man indicted over theft of Boeing C-17 secrets | PCWorld

Chinese A-400 Copy aka Y30 on the cards | Defence News Daily

[GreenKnight121]

Originally Posted by tdracer

The overhead to keep a line open is quite high, and when the rate drops below ~1 month it becomes prohibitively expensive unless you can sell the airplane at a huge premium. It's not just the final assembly - it's all the vendors along the way that can't use that capability for other things. In some cases they can just take the tooling and store it out back, but in other cases they have dedicated setups that take up huge areas.

As seen here:
Boeing, U.S. Navy in talks about stretching EA-18G jet production | Reuters

Boeing, U.S. Navy in talks about stretching EA-18G jet production
By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON Fri Dec 19, 2014 2:09pm EST

Dec 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy on Friday said it was in talks with Boeing Co about slowing production of its EA-18G electronic attack jets to keep the St. Louis facility running through the end of 2017, after Congress approved funding for 15 more planes.

The Navy is seeking to modify Boeing's existing contract for EA-18G jets, or Growlers, and F/A-18 Super Hornets to add the extra jets funded by Congress in the fiscal 2015 U.S. budget, said Rob Koon, spokesman for the Navy's Naval Air Systems Command.

President Obama on Tuesday signed the fiscal 2015 spending bill into law. It includes $1.46 billion for 15 more Growlers, and up to $100 million to cover the cost of slowing the current production rate from three to two aircraft a month.

By building two jets a month instead of three, Boeing will be able to stretch jet orders through the end of 2017, preserving the tooling and jobs associated with the line for as long as possible.

Koon gave no details on the cost of "stretching" the production line, or when the two sides are likely to reach agreement on a modified contract.

.....

Boeing has said it needs to build at least two planes per month to keep production costs economical.

[Heathrow Harry]

Thanks TEEJ - looks like it's the Brazilians then..................

[KenV]

When the US builds a new aircraft, it goes into LRP (Low Rate Production) initially. I wonder if it can do the same at the tail end, with the line still open, but say half the rate of production? Stretch out the already-ordered forgings a bit longer..

1. The C-17 build rate is already below 10 a year. It can't get much lower than it already is.

2. Boeing and USN are working on exactly this for the Super Hornet line. Congress just approved funding for a batch of EF-18 Growlers and Boeing is working with NAVAIR to stretch out production of these aircraft to mid 2017 to keep the production line warm as long as possible.

[GreenKnight121]

Originally Posted by KenV

1. The C-17 build rate is already below 10 a year. It can't get much lower than it already is.

2. Boeing and USN are working on exactly this for the Super Hornet line. Congress just approved funding for a batch of EF-18 Growlers and Boeing is working with NAVAIR to stretch out production of these aircraft to mid 2017 to keep the production line warm as long as possible.

1. Since the sub-contractor lines have been shut down completely, and all that Boeing is doing is putting together the sub-assemblies already delivered, the rate is effectively 0 now.

2. As described in my post of 2 weeks ago.

[Paul1050]

RNZAF C-17 update

2xC-17's currently before cabinet. AppareJuly the price is too good to pass up. Likely maintained by RAAF but crewed by NZ. ie 2 frames would go into RAAF pool and RNZAF would place a DET of 3 crews in Australia to fly them. As eluded to earlier the purchase is purely based on Antarctic capability .

[Heathrow Harry]

St Helena longliner adrift in Antarctica rescued by USAF ? MercoPress

St Helena longliner adrift in Antarctica rescued by USAF -2008