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As Americas airlift needs continue to grow, our United States Air Force deserves a cost-effective advanced airlifter that meets all current and future airlift needs and preserves our strong industrial base -- the C-17 Globemaster III.

The C-17 Globemaster III is the last wide-body military aircraft manufactured in the United States. Without this industrial capability, 30,000 direct jobs associated with the C-17 and tens of thousands of indirect jobs dependent on C-17 workers and supplier companies would be lost. Future strategic airlift needs could only be met by a prohibitive investment in restarting the C-17 line, or by the purchase of foreign aircraft. The United States would surrender a vital component of its military industrial base.

The C-17 aircraft has proven itself as a workhorse in supporting the men and women of our Armed Forces in overseas operations. Although it comprises 50 percent of the strategic airlift in the Air Force fleet, it flies 75 percent of the missions due to its reliability and versatility. It is also growing in importance as an asset of the Air National Guard. Time and again, the C-17 has proven its value by providing critical, time-sensitive humanitarian and emergency relief missions, including the response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile.

Crucial to our operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the C-17 Globemaster III has the highest availability rate of any Air Force mobility aircraft, and is at the forefront of supplying our troops throughout the world. According to the Air Force, the C-17 is the only aircraft capable of performing every airlift mission, anywhere in the world.

The C-17 continues to gain interest from international customers. Our allies have witnessed the hope that the C-17 has brought to nations like the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Qatar and the 12 nations who came together to stand up a C-17 base in Hungary. Other allies like India and United Arab Emirates want to bring that same hope and capability to their nation, but this takes time. We need to keep a continuous production line, from supplier to final assembly, running to be ready to fill those future orders. Any production gap also threatens the ability to respond to the future need to replace retiring C-5A aircraft; to keep the aircraft cost affordable for all customers; and to affordably satisfy the need to modernize and recapitalize the theater airlift fleet in the 2020 timeframe. If the C-17 line closes we put at risk the ability to supply international and domestic customers, and we jeopardize the tens of thousands of high paying, high tech American jobs that help support our aerospace industrial base.

America and its allies deserve the best airlift available. I urge you to support additional C-17 aircraft in the FY2011 Defense Appropriation Bill, and provide our Air Force with added airlift to meet today's demanding missions.

Thank you for your continued support of this important program in 2010 and beyond!