Article Posted on : - Jun 14, 2011

C-17 Globemaster III airlifter.

CALIFORNIA (BNS): Boeing has delivered the second C-17 Globemaster III airlifter to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Air Force and Air Defence at the C-17 programme's final assembly facility in Long Beach.

By 2012, Boeing will deliver six C-17s to UAE in which four will be delivered this year and the rest two will be delivered by next year.

The C-17 is the only aircraft capable of performing all of the UAE's airlift requirements -- strategic and tactical, military and humanitarian, brigade airdrop and aero-medical evacuation -- using either standard runways or short, austere airfields.

It can transport large payloads across vast ranges without refueling and operate in extremely hot and cold climates. With a full payload of 170,000 pounds, a C-17 can fly 2,400 nautical miles and land in 3,000 feet or less.

As a member of the worldwide C-17 "virtual fleet," the UAE's C-17s will be supported through Boeing's C-17 Globemaster III Sustainment Partnership, a proven multinational Performance-Based Logistics programme.