Boeing delivered the 223rd and last U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III airlifter today, fulfilling the production contract more than 20 years after the first delivery. The aircraft left Boeing's Long Beach facility to fly to its assignment at Joint Base Charleston, S.C., where a ceremony will mark its arrival. The Air Force was the C-17's launch customer. Since the aircraft's first flight Sept. 15, 1991, it has been the world's only strategic airlifter with tactical capabilities that allow it to fly between continents, land on short, austere runways, and airdrop supplies precisely where they are needed. Boeing continues to produce C-17s for other customers around the world, and maintain and sustain the aircraft through the C-17 Globemaster Integrated Sustainmcnt Program. C-17s have been involved in contingency operations of all types, including flying troops and equipment to Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and to Operation Iraqi Freedom. The airlifter also has been used in humanitarian missions around the world, including the Japanese and Indian Ocean tsunamis of 2011 and 2004, respectively; Hurricane Katrina in 2005; and the Haitian earthquake of 2010.
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