British Goverment gets ripped off again.

Captain Pugwash · Post by **Captain Pugwash** » 04 Mar 2007, 20:44

The new Boeing C-17 going out of production. same as the canadians we are buying the last of the line.

http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/mil ... 2a_nr.html

Chris Trott · Post by **Chris Trott** » 04 Mar 2007, 23:23

How is the British Goverment getting ripped off?

No orders are being cancelled. In fact, no shutdown has been made firm. All Boeing has done is stopped purchasing long-lead items (the stuff that has to be bought more than 12 months in advance of the time it's needed on the assembly line) for the aircraft so that if no further orders are received beyond the current commitments (which includes the RAF and RCAF orders), Boeing can shutdown the production line in an orderly manner.

At the same time, this action does not preclude the line from staying open longer. Boeing left the MD-11 line open an extra 2 years because UPS put in an order for more aircraft. At that time, they'd already taken the same step as they're doing here more than 9 months previous. They also re-opened the F-15E production line in 1994 to produce attriction replacement aircraft for the USAF. They have since re-opened that line twice for the production of the F-15K and additional F-15Es and F-15Ss for the USAF and RSAF respectively.

The US Government has refused to authorize funds for additional C-17s for the USAF (in spite of desparate need for them) and the British Government has shown no additional desire to purchase further aircraft, so Boeing is doing what they need to do to ensure that they have their 'ducks in a row' for when the last aircraft rolls off the line if the aircraft on order are indeed the last to be ever produced.

LongHaul · Post by **LongHaul** » 05 Mar 2007, 00:46

I must agree with Chris, no-one is getting 'ripped off'. There is no indication that orders will be cancelled, or that the aircraft ordered will be completed to any specification other than the one issued by the MoD. The only reason we are getting the 'end of the line' is beacause the Government have left it so long to order these new aircraft. - IMHO, we should have ordered them some time ago.

Chris Trott · Post by **Chris Trott** » 05 Mar 2007, 03:38

I do want to stress that Boeing will produce additional aircraft if additional orders are received. There are no plans to destroy or otherwise dismantle any of the tooling required to build the aircraft, so it will still be possible to build additional aircraft in the future. The cost will probably increase the longer that potential customers wait to order aircraft, but there is nothing that will prevent Boeing from ordering those long-lead items tomorrow if someone places an order for additional aircraft.

Boeing has re-opened a production line for a single aircraft in the past and will probably do it again in the future. That's how they've run their business since they started and there is no reason to change it. In fact, while techinically "out of production", Boeing still has the capability to produce any member of the 737 family, the 717, and any member of the 757 family. The lead-time would be fairly long to pull the tooling and jigs out of storage and replace any others that were destroyed after production ended, but Boeing has stood by their promise to build any product that Boeing has built if ordered by a customer.

DispatchDragon · Post by **DispatchDragon** » 05 Mar 2007, 03:42

However Chris - they offer limited to NO parts support for orphan aircraft
like the MD80

Leif

Chris Trott · Post by **Chris Trott** » 05 Mar 2007, 03:43

True, but there are several aftermarket/OEM suppliers which they will be more than happy to provide you with the information on how to contact them.

airboatr · Post by **airboatr** » 05 Mar 2007, 04:31

All For a specified sum of coarse

and you can be sure the sum is specified as

A Tidy Sum

Chris Trott · Post by **Chris Trott** » 05 Mar 2007, 06:53

You're too used to Airbus's way of doing business. Boeing doesn't charge you for providing phone numbers and contact information.

airboatr · Post by **airboatr** » 05 Mar 2007, 07:07

Chris Trott wrote:You're too used to Airbus's way of doing business. Boeing doesn't charge you for providing phone numbers and contact information.

you are assuming

Chris Trott · Post by **Chris Trott** » 05 Mar 2007, 16:49

No. I've actually called Boeing Customer Support for a part on an MD-80 that was being repaired at the Air Tahoma hangar for the mechanics. They told me they didn't have the part in inventory anymore and they then gave me the contact info for the company that manufactured the part.

On the other hand, the stories of the problems with Airbus and some of the other manufacturers (Fokker and BAe in particular) are kinda scary if even half of them are true.