Overview
- A C-17 assigned to the 445th Airlift Wing was heavily damaged on March 4, 2025, after microbursts at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport blew two private jets into its left side and wrecked the left nose area.
- Boeing was unable to find a vendor willing to build tooling for a single replacement nose panel, which threatened to keep the aircraft grounded for roughly two years.
- The Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office, working with the University of Dayton Research Institute, began robot-driven incremental sheet forming production in January 2026, completed fit checks in April, and installed the panel in July before the C-17 returned to flight on July 30, 2026.
- Incremental sheet forming is a digital, tool-free process in which a robot progressively shapes a flat metal sheet into the part needed, and this nose panel is the first ISF-produced component to fly on a U.S. Air Force aircraft.
- The RSO says the method cut an expected multi-year repair to months, helped avoid losing one of nine mission-essential C-17s, and the office is already pursuing ISF parts for KC-135s and F-15s to ease future supply shortfalls.