In a letter of intent released in September, NATO announced that it wants to buy three or four C-17s for strategic airlift needs. Thirteen allied nations have agreed to jointly purchase the aircraft, which would be based at Ramstein AB, Germany. The C-17s would be flown and maintained by NATO crews.

An alliance statement emphasized that NATO has an "urgent operational need" for strategic airlift to support operations such as the one in Afghanistan. It wants to have the first aircraft on the ramp by the middle of next year and have all its C-17s in service in 2009.

The aircraft would be used chiefly for NATO operations, but could also provide airlift "exclusively of a national character" or for United Nations, European Union, or other international purposes such as humanitarian or disaster relief.