Fly Past

86 RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION PATROLLERS AND AIRLIFTERS

BOEING

C-17 GLOBEMA

2001 TO PRESENT

Right

A Sentinel R.1 at an

undisclosed airfi eld

in the Middle East.

The type provides

long-range battlefi eld

intelligence,

target-imaging and

tracking for the RAF

and the Army, and

conducts surveillance

applications in

peacetime, wartime

and in crisis operations.

CROWN COPYRIGHT/SGT

LAURA BIBBY

C-17 GLOBEMASTER III

CROWN COPYRIGHT/SGT

LAURA BIBBY

C-17 GLOBEMASTER III

1918 2018

B

oeing’s C-17 Globemaster

III provides the long-range,

heavy-lift strategic transport

capabilities for the modern-

day RAF. Employed in areas

of combat or for peacekeeping

and humanitarian missions, the

behemoth is a familiar sight at

airfields across the globe.

Developed for the USAF, the C-17

prototype first flew on September

15, 1991 and was dubbed

Globemaster III in February 1993

(following on from the USAF’s

Douglas C-74 Globemaster and

C-124 Globemaster II piston-

engined transports).

After Boeing marketed the aircraft

to several European nations, the

RAF adopted the type – however,

the initial contract was only for a

short-term lease deal.

The RAF had been without an

‘outsized’ strategic airlift capability

since the Short Belfast was

withdrawn in 1976. It had to rely on

civilian-operated chartered freighters

during the Falklands War and First

Gulf War.

The MoD’s 1998 Strategic

Defence Review identified an

urgent requirement for a strategic

airlifter to serve until the Airbus

A400M entered service. This led

to the RAF’s Short-Term Strategic

Airlift (STSA) competition, but

less than a year later the tendering

was cancelled when government

ministers decided the aircraft would

be too expensive.

LEASE DEAL

Subsequent delays with the A400M

programme led to lateral thinking,

and those involved in the STSA

contest agreed that the C-17 was the

most suitable candidate for a stop-

gap transporter.

Therefore, in May 2000, UK

Secretary of State for Defence Geoff

Hoon announced the RAF would

lease four C-17s from Boeing at an

annual cost of £100 million. The

deal would be for seven years with

an optional two-year extension.

Furthermore, the RAF had the

option to buy or return the aircraft

Above

C-17 ZZ178 takes off

from RAF Brize Norton

in December 2013. The

aircraft joined the RAF

the previous May and

is the eighth and – to

date – fi nal example to

be acquired by the MoD.

CROWN COPYRIGHT/

PAUL CROUCH

“The jet is capable of rapid, strategic delivery of troops and all

types of cargo to main operating bases anywhere in the world.”