Further Delays Plague Air Force Transport Plane

The Air Force’s newest transport plane, the C-17--already months behind schedule and more than $3 billion over budget--faces further delays because of production problems and glitches in complex computer software programs, according to a new government study.

Because of the problems, the first flight of the C-17, built by Douglas Aircraft Co. of Long Beach, will be pushed back from next August to at least December, 1990, according to a General Accounting Office report issued this week.

Further delays could result if Douglas cannot solve continuing troubles with production tooling, assembly, flight control software and the plane’s weight, the agency reported. Douglas Aircraft is a subsidiary of McDonnell Douglas Corp. of St. Louis, the nation’s largest military contractor.

The C-17, which will cost an estimated $37.5 billion over the next 10 years, is one of the Pentagon’s biggest procurement programs. Among current military projects, only the $70-billion B-2 Stealth bomber and the $69-billion “Star Wars” anti-missile shield are more costly.

Douglas spokesman David Eastman called the GAO findings “nothing particularly new” and said that the problems are under control. He acknowledged, however, that the first flight would be delayed by at least four months.

“We’ve been saying since the first of year that we’re three to four months behind. We’re trying to make it up, but the possibilities right now are very slim,” Eastman said. “It’s getting more and more obvious to us that we’re probably not going to be able” to meet the August, 1990, target for the C-17’s maiden flight.

The first C-17 is being assembled at Douglas Aircraft’s Long Beach plant, where 8,000 workers are employed on the project, Eastman said.

The GAO cited delays in deliveries of parts as contributing to the delays. Douglas engineers hoped to mate the wings to the fuselage in July, for example, but have been forced to postpone that milestone until next January, he said.

The Air Force plans to buy 210 of the jumbo transport planes. Each will weigh 135 tons and is designed to carry 83 tons of cargo 2,700 miles without refueling. The Air Force contends it needs the new cargo plane to assure that overseas forces can be resupplied quickly in the event of war.

The current $37.5-billion cost estimate for the program does not include improvements in the plane’s defensive systems that the Air Force is demanding on half of the 210 planes. The changes will add at least $437 million to the C-17’s overall cost, the GAO said.

The plane is currently scheduled to join the Air Force inventory in 1992, with the final jets to be delivered at the end of the decade.

The Air Force did not dispute the GAO’s findings on program delays.