Pentagon Admits C-17 Is $4 Billion Over Its Budget
The military’s transportation chief acknowledged Wednesday that the McDonnell Douglas C-17 transport plane has soared $4 billion over budget and will come up 90 miles short of its specified range of 2,400 miles.
Gen. Hansford T. Johnson also told the Senate Armed Services Committee that production of the 210 Air Force planes, now estimated to cost $41 billion, is six months behind schedule, with the first plane now expected in June, 1991.
The Pentagon is reviewing whether to proceed with full production in light of the apparent lessening Soviet threat as well as budget constraints at home. The C-17, which is being assembled at McDonnell Douglas Corp.’s Douglas Aircraft plant in Long Beach, had been reported earlier to be far over budget.
The Bush Administration, in its $292-billion defense budget for fiscal 1991, is asking for six C-17s. Requests in later years include 12 planes in fiscal 1992 and 25 the following year.
Johnson said the $4-billion increase was triggered by modifications Congress and the Pentagon demanded in fiscal 1990, stretchouts in the program and inflation.
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