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C-17 Facts: Everything You Need To Know

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C-17 Payload Capacity

C-17 Payload
A U.S. Air Force Airman assigned to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam loads a M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) on to a C-17 Globemaster III during a HIMARS rapid infiltration (HIRAIN) dry run for RED FLAG-Alaska 18-1 on May 3, 2018, at Fort Greely, Alaska. HIRAIN exercises the ability to transport, fire, and extract a HIMARS quickly and safely.
Senior Airman Isaac Johnson, U.S. Air Force

Maximum payload capacity of the C-17 is 172,000 pounds (77,519 kilograms), and its maximum gross takeoff weight is 585,000 pounds (265,352 kilograms). A document by the U.S. General Accounting Office from 1984 stated that data provided by the Air Force and McDonnell Douglas Corporation, the C-17 contractor, show that the C-17 is designed to carry its 172,200 pound maximum cargo load an un-refueled distance of about 2,900 nautical miles. This data also show that the C-17 will be able to land in 2,370 feet with a cargo load of 170,000 pounds.