Boeing will deliver 13 C-17 Globemaster III airlifters in 2011 as part of its strategy to move to a new production rate of ten C-17s a year.
The move to the new production rate will be complete by the middle of 2011 and will result in the elimination of the second shift at the C-17 final assembly facility in Long Beach.
Go deeper with GlobalData
The lower production rate has been designed to extend the line as the company is considering capturing additional international orders.
Boeing delivered 14 C-17s in 2010.
The C-17, which is in its 18th year of service, has supported important military transport, humanitarian and disaster-relief missions across the world.
The C-17 has achieved two million total flight hours in December, less than five years after it passed the one-million-flight-hour mark in March 2006.
