C-17 Globemaster III
The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a long-range heavy airlifter that combines intercontinental reach with the ability to operate from short, austere airfields, serving as the backbone of U.S. and allied strategic airlift since 1995.
A four-engine, high-wing heavy transport that bridges the gap between strategic range and tactical short-field performance, delivering outsize cargo directly to the front line and forming the spinal column of Western military airlift for three decades.
Overview
The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is the U.S. Air Force’s premier heavy airlifter and serves a broad set of allied and NATO operators. It unites a payload capacity of over 77 metric tonnes—enough for a single M1 Abrams main battle tank—with the ability to land on austere airstrips as short as 1,064 meters and only 27.4 meters wide, a combination that no other Western transport achieves. Air-refuellable and capable of intercontinental ferry flights, the C-17 has been the indispensable enabler of rapid global force projection, sustained combat logistics, humanitarian relief, and the direct resupply of forces under fire since 1995.
Development
The C-17 emerged from the U.S. Air Force’s 1980s requirement for a C-141 replacement that could carry outsize cargo directly to forward operating locations without the trans-shipment needed for the C-5 Galaxy. McDonnell Douglas (later Boeing) won the contract, and the first prototype flew on 15 September 1991. The type entered operational service with the first squadron at Charleston Air Force Base in January 1995. Over the following two decades, production ramped up and then tapered as the U.S. buy was completed, with the final aircraft—the 279th—delivered to the USAF in September 2013. Boeing announced the closure of the Long Beach production line in 2015 after completing outstanding foreign orders, capping a 22-year assembly run.
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