Thirteen NATO allies have signed a letter of intent to buy C-17 transport airplanes, unveiling a much-needed airlift plan. Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, predicted last month that a proposal to buy Boeing C-17s was imminent, but whether this formal request will enable Boeing to keep its C-17 line open beyond 2009 remains to be seen. A NATO statement indicates the alliance has spent six months developing its “NATO Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC),” an airlift plan that calls initially for three to four C-17s. A NATO agency has begun negotiations with Boeing, and because the alliance views gaining a strategic airlift capability as urgent, it expects to wrap up contract negotiations by year’s end, so it can receive the first airplane at least by late 2007.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…