章 264: A Ruthenian Empire with American Military Tech

The C-17 Globemaster is one of the iconic planes of the United States Air Force. The development started in the 1970s to replace the Boeing C-130 Hercules as its primary tactical cargo aircraft, which increases the Air Forces' airlift capabilities as well as to fulfill the rapid-deployment airlift requirements. The contest began when giant aerospace companies in the United States started submitting their proposal to the Department of Defense. McDonnell Douglas proposed the YC-15, the enlarged C-141 design for Lockheed Martin, and Boeing proposed the YC-14. 

The McDonnell Douglas won the contract and started working on the proposal. The design met and exceeded all Air Force design specifications, until, in the 90s, things weren't looking good for McDonnell Douglas as technical issues, development cost overruns, growing unit costs, and delays led to the termination of the A-12 Avenger II program, a program which they pour billions of dollars, a significant loss.