NATO Allies Agree To Buy C-17 Aircraft, Reducing Airlift Shortage
14 September 2006
Three or four cargo planes based in Germany would be shared by 13 nations
Washington -- NATO has announced that 13 allies are in negotiations to buy at least three or four Boeing C-17 Globemaster III long-range cargo jets, with deliveries beginning in 2007.
The September 12 announcement follows six months of negotiations aimed at pooling financial resources in order to help reduce NATO’s chronic airlift shortage.
The plan was proposed by the United States, which has agreed to participate by contributing as much as an entire aircraft to the new NATO airlift fleet. The project would boost NATO's airlift capability while also providing additional aircraft sales for U.S. contractor Boeing, a rival to the European Airbus consortium, which also is developing a transport aircraft. That plane will not be ready for service until the end of the decade at the earliest.
Under the newly announced plan, each participating nation will agree to pay for a portion of an aircraft rather than an entire aircraft. The four-engine C-17 is the workhorse of the U.S. Air Force, which is budgeted to buy 180 aircraft. The British Royal Air Force also flies C-17s. But the U.S. defense contractor Boeing announced in August that it is beginning to shut down its production line if more aircraft are not ordered soon.
The 13 nations released a letter of intent (LOI) to launch contract negotiations for the collective purchase of three or four aircraft. The nations plan to form a NATO strategic airlift capability (SAC) unit based at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, which is also the hub of U.S. airlift operations in Europe.
“What we found is that many allies don’t need a whole plane,” Victoria Nuland, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, said in a July interview describing the possible C-17 purchase. “So if they come together here, they get a 10th of a plane, a 20th of a plane.” U.S. officials have said that housing the aircraft at Ramstein would reduce maintenance and ownership costs significantly. (See related article.)
“Because of the urgent operational need for strategic airlift, the SAC nations intend to conclude contract negotiations this year, and have the goal of receiving the first C-17 by the middle or end of next year,” NATO officials said in their September 12 press release. “Additional planes are called for to be delivered every six months.”
Currently, NATO leases six Russian and Ukrainian Antonov An-124-100 cargo aircraft under an arrangement known as the strategic airlift interim solution (SALIS). The NATO C-17s will be flown under a similar arrangement, alliance officials said.
“The 13 NATO nations will fly the planes based on sovereign national requirements,” NATO officials said in their press release. “While these national requirements will often be related to NATO operations, they many also be exclusively of a national character.” In addition, NATO officials said the aircraft could be used for United Nations, European Union or international purposes such as humanitarian airlift and disaster relief.
Nations signing the LOI are: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United States.
“Membership in the airlift fleet remains open to other nations, and some additional nations are considering joining,” NATO officials said.
The full text of the C-17 press release is available on the NATO Web site. A fact sheet on the C-17 is available on the U.S. Air Force Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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