 |
| C-17, McMurdo Science Station Image: USAirForce |
Publisher's note: As consideration of the 2011 Defense bill looms within an atmosphere of presumed laudable budgetary restraint, Boeing is to be commended for its continuing and bold support for C-17, despite the forces arrayed against them. As stated in July 17 and June 1, 2010 releases from Global HeavyLift, (http://owly/2cXvE http://owly/2t0wH) specific efforts were and are being made by elements within the DoD, in collaboration with several international media outlets, both mainstream and in the blogosphere, to dissuade, among other NATO or de facto NATO allies, the Indian government, and its IAF, from continuing their efforts to acquire as many as 24 C-17s with the intent of addressing critical strategic/tactical airlift requirements. The latter being considered a necessary and pragmatic move as the China threat grows. The same China, by the way, that has succeeded in acquiring, through covert and overt means, sufficient technological data to build C-17, F-22 and Aegis BMD clones.
This quasi-public, and arguably, "evergreen" study from the Department of Commerce accessible here was specifically crafted to refute assertions from within the DoD, policy sector and private industry that industrial/economic base impact of Boeing C-17 line closure would be minimal, while simultaneously articulating with specificity the negative ramifications of a near-permanently lost heavy airlift aircraft design, engineering and manufacturing capability - a capability that our European and Chinese associates will happily assume...
And then, there's "the rest of the story" when one applies Keynesian economic multipliers...
-Myron D. Stokes eMOTION! REPORTS.com
Excerpt from Department of Commerce C-17 Executive Summary:
"Permanent closure of Boeing’s production facility would effectively eliminate U.S. capability to further manufacture this aircraft. Either action will have large costs and industrial base consequences. These include:
• localized economic and employment disruption in regions across the United States,
• impacts on future aerospace industrial base technical and production capability,
• significant termination fees and restart expenses,
• forfeiture of potential military aircraft export market sales, and
• lost potential U.S. cargo carrier opportunities in global heavy lift, oversize markets.
"Parts, components, services, and systems for the C-17 are purchased by Boeing from more than 700 companies located in 42 states. Boeing estimates that total annual economic activity in the United States associated with the manufacture and servicing of C-17s amounts to $8.4 billion.5 In total, an estimated 25,000 jobs are linked to C-17 production and related activities."
