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Perhaps worth nothing that the last C-17 produced was in 2015, after which the closed the Long Beach plant: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_C-17_Globema

• nradov 2y ago
  It's so crazy that we shut down working production lines without having a replacement ready to go.
  • Jtsummers 2y ago
    "We" is Boeing. No one else was buying them and they had no reason to keep the line operational. That's a massive expensive for a private corporation to take on.
    • kelnos 2y ago
      Would it have made sense for the military to pay them some amount yearly just to keep the production line ready to build new planes if the need arose? Otherwise, what happens if/when existing C-17s are destroyed or damaged beyond repair? Does the military just live with having one fewer C-17, until they eventually have none left? (And hope that there is some replacement plane that's being produced by the time they're starting to feel the shortage?)
      • Jtsummers 2y ago
        They'll build more cargo planes. > Does the military just live with having one fewer C-17, until they eventually have none left? Yes, 744 B-52s were built and were down to 76 in inventory. Eventually every aircraft gets replaced with something.
  • throw0101a 2y ago
    > It's so crazy that we shut down working production lines without having a replacement ready to go. No one was buying anymore. Just like no one is buying B-52s, they're just refurbishing the existing ones. As a Canadian, we bough a few initially, and I wish we had ordered several more when they announced the closure: even if we didn't need to use them daily, having them around and perhaps help allies (NATO, Japan, etc) could have been nice.