Boeing says Air Force will order more C-17 jets

Boeing Co. predicted Thursday that the Air Force would order as many as 14 more C-17 transport jets, extending the plane's production.

Boeing is funding parts purchases at its own expense in anticipation that the Air Force will add more C-17s to its 190-plane order. The Chicago-based company has delivered 170 aircraft already and may shut down production in Long Beach if additional orders don't come in.

"There will be more money for C-17 in the '08 supplemental for the war on terror," Boeing Defense Chief James Albaugh said at an aerospace conference in New York. "We see 10 to 14 being ordered based on testimony from the Air Force and what we've heard on Capitol Hill."

Albaugh predicted that the C-17 program would "continue well into the next decade."

Shares of Boeing fell 40 cents to $93.21.