It’s much more common that my local Representative, Dana Rohrabacher (R – Huntington Beach) and I are on the same track. But, in this case, we have something of a syzygy: it would be crazy to put C-17 production on ice.

This is called for in the new QDR, which I have already criticized. But it is a marked change from the previously held view of the Pentagon, which was that additional C-17s were critical to “transformation”. This stands to reason, as the C-17 carries far more than the C-130 (or the C-141) can, and will go places the C-5 (or the C-141) can’t. It’s a key player in rapid in-force deployment to the most remote parts of the globe.

Couple that to the limited savings to be had, due to the $5bn required just to maintain production capacity, should it be required in the future (verses about $9.2bn to continue production), as well as the cost of a planned C-5B engine refit (about $2bn for 50 planes), and logic dictates continuing with the additional 42 on order.

Hopefully, and in any case, Boeing will secure foreign orders for the C-17.