Boeing Company announced on 12 February that it expected to sign a contract on 5 April to deliver 60 more C-17 military transport planes to the US government. Boeing, already delivered 81 C-17s and contracted to deliver another 120 by 2004, expected the $10 billion deal to extend to 2008. The aircraft manufacturer was economically hard-hit by the 11 September attacks. - Adam Geibel