A C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft lands at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, in July 2026. This aircraft was repaired using an innovative new manufacturing process, saving the Air Force months of work and potentially millions of dollars. (US Air Force/Casey Tromp)

US Air Force C-17 Repaired with Custom-Made Parts

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Air Force engineers fabricated a new nose panel for a damaged C-17 Globemaster III through an experimental process known as “incremental sheet forming.”

The old saying “They don’t make them like they used to” is more than a saying for the US armed forces. For the Pentagon, it is literally true: many of the legacy systems it continues to operate and rely on aren’t produced any longer. This raises maintenance costs and creates a scarcity of spare parts; retired aircraft are often saved so that they can be cannibalized to keep aging operational planes in the air.

However, after a C-17 Globemaster III with the US Air Force’s 445th Airlift Wing was damaged when it was struck by a private Bombardier Challenger jet during strong winds and hail at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, Texas, in March 2025, it was clear that more drastic measures would be required to repair the legacy transport. The C-17 was able to fly home to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB) in Dayton, Ohio, with a temporary nose panel repair and its landing gear down.

The plane was mostly intact and still airworthy, akin to a car with a crumpled fender. But fixing the damage posed an outsized problem for the Air Force, as the final C-17s were built in 2015, more than a decade ago. C-17 manufacturer Boeing had shuttered the production line that year,........

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