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Senate panel acts to save C-17; may not be enough(Copley News Service Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) WASHINGTON - Another congressional panel has acted to keep Boeing's C-17 production line going beyond a threatened 2008 closure. But it may not be enough to save the 6,000 jobs in Long Beach and the thousands elsewhere in California that depend on the Air Force program. In approving its version of the 2007 defense funding bill on a 28-0 vote, the Senate Appropriations Committee provided the $2.3 billion the Air Force requested for the last 12 authorized C-17s, then added $542.5 million for three more of the Globemaster III long-range transports. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a member of the committee, praised the bipartisan action. "Around the world, our men and women in uniform depend on C-17 planes to deliver reliable and secure strategic airlift," Feinstein said. The three extra aircraft "will help ensure that our nation's Air Force is equipped with the very best tools it needs." The committee's action, which must be approved by the full Senate, possibly next week, means that all four of the congressional panels that deal with the defense budget have acted to buy three C-17s beyond the 120 that currently are planned. The House and Senate armed services committees and the House Appropriations Committee earlier approved three extra C-17s in their 2007 bills, using money the Pentagon had requested to pay Boeing for shutting down the production line in 2008. Those additional aircraft, however, can be produced without extending the operations of the Long Beach plant, which is equipped to build 15 planes a year. But Senate Appropriations went an additional step and ordered the Pentagon to continue funding C-17s in the 2008 defense budget, which is being prepared behind closed doors. In language added to the funding bill, the committee said: "The C-17 airlift aircraft has proved invaluable in meeting the worldwide transport and cargo requirements of our armed forces. The Committee is concerned that shutting down the production line after the fiscal year 2007 buys, leaving an inventory of only 183 aircraft, is premature and ill-advised. The costs to reopen the line later could be prohibitively expensive. "The committee directs the Department of Defense to continue funding C-17 production in the fiscal year 2008 budget." Although no similar language is in any of the other three defense bills, it is likely to be accepted by House appropriators. Past commanders of the U.S. Transportation Command have said they need at least 220 C-17s to meet the demand for long-range airlift. But the administration's defense budget proposed ending production at 180 and provided money to close the line. Then Air Force officials put seven additional C-17s at the top of their "unfunded priorities" list, because the Globemasters are being used at much higher rates than expected and may wear out sooner than planned. A number of allied nations have expressed interest in buying small numbers of C-17s, including Canada's recent announcement of its intention to buy four. But those foreign sales so far total less than one-year production capacity in Long Beach. Boeing officials last week said they would have to make a decision by mid-August whether to start shutting down the C-17 line by telling their suppliers to stop making parts for future aircraft. |