When Boeing was a partner on the original Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) program it was going to set up a manufacturing line at Cecil Field. But when numbers dwindled from 138 to 78 then to 38, it was decided to build the aircraft at Alenia in Italy and then fly 'green' airframes to the US for their mission systems fitout.
Boeing dropped out of the program a few years ago and L3 came in, and the fitout line was established at L3's facility at Waco.
Ten C-27Js is a good start - don't forget we only had 10 Caribous in the end and the utility of these in a modern war zone was highly questionnable anyway. Ten C-27Js can certainly cover a lot more ground a lot faster and with much bigger loads than 10 Caribous. With the C-130Js now mainly tasked in the tac role, the C-130Hs can also be retired. I doubt we'll see more C-27Js.
|