Last week and over the weekend, the Obama Administration C-17 Challengers, led by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, continued to land blow after blow in the annual boxing match over the fate of the C-17 and the 5,000 Long Beach workers who assemble the big jets. The Obama Administration wants to end production after the 223 which are already in service or in the pipeline. Boeing, its friends in congress and everywhere else are doing everything they can to continue building the profitable four engine advanced airlifters.

At his regular weekly press conference last week, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell engaged in a little tit for tat exchange with one of the reporters in the room. With regard to both of the Administration’s veto threat programs—the C-17 and the second engine for the F-35—the reporter asked, given the usual push back from congressional representatives, if Gates might step back from the veto threat. Here’s what was said:
Morrell: Do you think that he is bluffing?
Reporter: Well, we'll know in September.
Morrell: What do you think?
Reporter: Yeah, I do think he's bluffing.
Morrell: Okay. Well, let's see. Was he -- he wasn't bluffing on the F-22, and I don't think he's going to be bluffing on the F-35.

This reference to the F-22 is about last year’s veto threat. Although Mr. Morrell did not specifically mention the C-17 in this part of the exchange, it is reasonable to infer the veto threat for the F-35 and the C-17 are a package deal. At least, so far this year, the two programs are almost always mentioned together when the discussion comes to the veto threat.

On Sunday, Gates was asked about the C-17 in an interview on Fox News by CHRIS WALLACE, ANCHOR. Here are the relevant excerpts:
WALLACE: As part of your new drive to try to cut the budget for non- combat operations, has the president agreed to veto any bill that would include continued funding for the C-17 cargo plane or an alternative engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, even if that legislation also included repeal of "don't ask, don't tell?”
GATES: Well, as I told the Senate Appropriations Committee, the defense subcommittee, this week, it would be a very serious mistake to believe that the president would not veto a bill that has the C-17 or the alternative engine in it just because it had other provisions that the president and the administration want.
WALLACE: Have you been given an assurance by the president that he will enforce his feelings, your feelings, about the budget even at the expense of social policy?
GATES: Well, I think the White House has put out a very strong statement in support. I would also just say that I don't go way out on a limb without looking back to make sure nobody's back there with a saw.
WALLACE: So you think that they veto the bill even with repeal of "don't ask, don't tell?”
GATES: I think so.

The above quotes pretty much cover the blows from the Challengers. Our 24/7 scan for anything C-17 related did not find any counterpunches from the C-17 Defenders. Stay tuned to www.OC180NEWS.com for important updates on this emerging story.