Boeing delivers second C-17 cargo plane to India

Boeing delivers second C-17 to India

Boeing delivered its second C-17 Globemaster III airlifter to India Monday in a ceremony that included a visit from Indian Air Force Chief Marshal Browne -- his first visit to the U.S. in 26 years.

Officials from Boeing's Long Beach assembly facility, including Nan Bouchard, vice president and C-17 program manager, touted the deal with India, which includes a total of five C-17s this year and five next year.

The country became Boeing's largest foreign customer when it endorsed a $4.1 billion deal to purchase the C-17s to help modernize and replace India's aging fleet of Russian-built cargo planes.

The C-17s will be used in humanitarian and disaster-relief missions. The four-engine planes, at 174 feet long and with a 169.8-foot wingspan, are valued for their cargo capacity, their versatility and their ability to land on remote airfields in rough terrain.

The international order also helps to keep the production line alive through the third quarter of 2014 and preserve the more than 4,000 jobs in Long Beach, home to California's last aircraft manufacturing facility, as well as thousands more on the supply chain in 44 states, officials from Boeing said.

Diminishing domestic orders of the C-17 have prompted Boeing officials to expand to foreign markets to keep the production line going. In recent years, Boeing has delivered C-17s to various foreign customers, including Qatar, the first Middle East customer to order C-17s, the Royal Australian Air Force, the United Arab Emirates Air Force and Air Defence, the United Kingdom Royal Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force.

 presstelegram