Boeing announced Wednesday a contract signing to supply the UAE with six C-17 transports by 2012. Under the contract terms, the UAE will take delivery of four C-17s in 2011 and two the following year. Financial terms were not disclosed. “The C-17 will give the UAE the ability to perform a variety of humanitarian and strategic lift operations around the world in support of both national and international missions,” said Maj. Gen. Staff Pilot Faris Mohamed Al Mazrouei, in Boeing’s release. The UAE early last year disclosed its intent to procure C-17s, along with Lockheed Martin C-130Js, to modernize its airlift capabilities. UAE becomes the second Middle East nation after Qatar to procure the C-17. Boeing said there are currently 212 C-17s in use worldwide, including 193 with the US Air Force. Britain ordered its seventh C-17 last month.
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.