元老院同意继续购买C-17

Congress approves funding for 8 Boeing C-17s
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - by Lisa R. Brown St. Louis Business Journal

The U.S. Senate appropriations committee included funding Tuesday for eight Boeing C-17 cargo planes in the 2009 supplemental appropriations bill.

The bill appropriates $2.2 billion to buy eight additional eight C-17 planes in the 2009 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

Sen. Kit Bond, R-Missouri, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, led efforts in recent weeks to secure funding for the purchase of C-17s. They had pushed for 15 more C-17s.

"This eight is good news," said George Roman, Boeing's vice president of government relations and regional executive. "It validates the importance of this product and the role and mission it supplies our soldiers and airmen."

Roman said Chicago-based Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) will seek funding for an additional 15 C-17s in the 2010 fiscal year supplemental appropriations bill.

"We believe there continues to be a need for this product for the U.S. military and as a humanitarian role," he said.

The C-17 program appeared in jeopardy earlier this year when Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposed to end production of the C-17 this year after a remaining handful already ordered are built.

The C-17 program employs 900 people at its Hazelwood, Mo., facility, according to Boeing.Congress approves funding for 8 Boeing C-17s
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - by Lisa R. Brown St. Louis Business Journal

The U.S. Senate appropriations committee included funding Tuesday for eight Boeing C-17 cargo planes in the 2009 supplemental appropriations bill.

The bill appropriates $2.2 billion to buy eight additional eight C-17 planes in the 2009 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

Sen. Kit Bond, R-Missouri, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, led efforts in recent weeks to secure funding for the purchase of C-17s. They had pushed for 15 more C-17s.

"This eight is good news," said George Roman, Boeing's vice president of government relations and regional executive. "It validates the importance of this product and the role and mission it supplies our soldiers and airmen."

Roman said Chicago-based Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) will seek funding for an additional 15 C-17s in the 2010 fiscal year supplemental appropriations bill.

"We believe there continues to be a need for this product for the U.S. military and as a humanitarian role," he said.

The C-17 program appeared in jeopardy earlier this year when Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposed to end production of the C-17 this year after a remaining handful already ordered are built.

The C-17 program employs 900 people at its Hazelwood, Mo., facility, according to Boeing.