Fifty-five house lawmakers are warning the Pentagon that excluding funding for Boeing C-17s in its fiscal 2009 budget will bring about a "strong negative response" from Congress.

Capitol Hill has funded C-17 production, which costs $3 billion-$4 billion for 15 airframes annually, despite the Pentagon's decision starting in 2005 to cancel funding. A bipartisan group of lawmakers sent their request in a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates Dec. 19.

A similar letter was sent by 19 senators Dec. 13 to White House Office of Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle and Gates (DAILY, Dec. 18).

The Long Beach, Calif., line is expected to produce the last of the 190 C-17s now on order in 2009. However, long-lead supplies need to be ordered now by second and third tier suppliers if more C-17s are needed by the U.S. Air Force. Despite a spasm of international orders last year, demand from Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and NATO falls short of sustaining the production capability.

Boeing has been financing work on the line without a nod from the government in the hope that more orders will come soon.

Lawmakers in the House and Senate note in their communications with the Pentagon that 30,000 jobs around the country rely on more orders for the airlifters.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon continues to execute a series of reviews designed to determine the fate of the $17 billion Lockheed Martin program to improve the reliability of the C-5, the Pentagon's other strategic airlifter. One source close to the issue suggests that if the Pentagon decides to re-engine the A and B models, a $3 billion shortfall in the FYDP (future years defense plan) needs to be addressed. Adding the new power plants to the Bs only, however, reduces that bill by nearly one-third.

The outcome of the C-5 program could affect how many more C-17s the Air Force may need to address its requirements.