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LONG BEACH: Boeing Co. officials in Long Beach would not comment Saturday on published reports that the Pentagon is beginning the process to end production of the Long Beach-built C-17 military cargo plane.
And, they said, no order has come to begin the eventual closing of the plant.
At issue is a classified budget request by the Pentagon that asks to include $265 million in the 2007 defense budget, which would be used for storing and finding uses for the equipment used to manufacture the C-17.
“We have received no direction to take steps to close the line,” said Boeing C-17 spokesman Rick Sanford. “We won't comment on a document we have not seen.”
In a classified Pentagon budget request last week, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England asked for $265 million in next year's budget to mothball the tools and machinery used to produce the four-engine cargo jets, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
But the final decision on the C-17 rests with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has not commented publicly on his plans. The Bush administration is set to present its fiscal 2007 defense budget to Congress in February.
Some aerospace analysts questioned whether the state's congressional delegation had enough clout to persuade other members of Congress to set aside billions of dollars for the C-17 program. Each C-17, also know as the Globemaster III, would cost about $175 million.
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