Boeing [BA] signed an agreement with the United Kingdom for one C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, the company said yesterday.
The C-17, due later this year, will be the eighth delivered to the Royal Air Force, Boeing said.
Boeing has delivered 241 C-17s worldwide, including 216 to the U.S. Air Force, the company said. Twenty-five C-17s have been delivered to Australia, Canada, Qatar, the United Arab Emeritus, United Kingdom and the 12-member Strategic Airlift Capability initiative of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Partnership for Peace nations, according to a statement. India has 10 C-17s on order for delivery in 2013 and 2014, Boeing said.
RAF C-17s had surpassed 50,000 flight hours in December 2009 when the United Kingdom announced its intent to purchase a seventh aircraft, the company said. By the time the seventh C-17 was delivered, the fleet had logged more than 60,000 flight hours, according to a statement. The fleet has now surpassed 74,000 flight hours, a rate 15 percent above planned use, Boeing said.
The RAF C-17s are operated by 99 Squadron at RAF Brize Norton, according to a statement. C-17s are used to support Operation Herrick, the transport of large equipment and troops to Afghanistan, the company said.