Free Republic

The military transport market will see production of almost 900 new aircraft over the next decade, but the raw numbers obscure major changes in the landscape. Production of the Boeing C-17 could end, leaving the strategic transport market to the Airbus Military A400M, while the Lockheed Martin C-130J will face a challenge for the tactical sector from Embraer’s new KC-390. In the absence of Congressional funding for more U.S. Air Force aircraft, Boeing has restructured C-17 production to be economic at a lower rate but cannot hope to keep the line going indefinitely on export orders. Forecast International projects the...

Training devices for the U.S. Air Force's C-17 aircrews will be delivered by Boeing to three service sites in 2012 and 2013. Boeing said the first set of devices is an Integrated Training Center to be delivered to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, in the first quarter of 2012. The ITC will consist of a weapon systems trainer, pilot and co-pilot station, loadmaster station and related courseware and support equipment. A second weapon systems trainer will be installed at McChord Air Force Base, Wash., in the third quarter of 2012 and a third ITC will go to a new C-17...

The worldwide fleet of C-17 Globemaster III airlifters built by The Boeing Company surpassed 2 million flying hours during an airdrop mission over Afghanistan on Dec. 10. Reaching 2 million flight hours equates to 1.13 billion nautical miles – the equivalent of a C-17 flying to the moon and back 2,360 times. The representative mission, flown by a U.S. Air Force C-17, airdropped 74,000 pounds of jet fuel in support of U.S. and coalition troops just south of Kabul. The C-17 has a mission readiness rate of more than 85 percent. It is the world's only strategic airlifter with tactical...

Pilot error is the US Air Force's official cause for the first fatal crash of a Boeing C-17, but the service's investigation report has also exposed lax oversight of an over-aggressive flier who was allowed to repeatedly perform an unsafe airshow routine. The crash report - released by the Pacific Air Forces Command on 13 December - also echoes the findings of a 16-year-old Boeing B-52 crash that ranks as one of the darkest chapters in USAF history and sparked a movement to reform the service's management and safety culture. Aviation safety experts have already seized on the new report...

U.S. Air National Guard C-130H crews are being given increased situational awareness during airlift, airdrop and other operations by Northrop Grumman. The company said it had been given a $12.7 million cost-plus fixed-fee contract from the Defense Micro-Electronics Activity to integrate software and hardware that will enable real-time tactical information to be displayed in the C-130H cockpit and navigator station. The displays will provide information obtained from Joint Range Extension Applications Protocol and Situational Awareness Data Link communications, allowing the C-130 crew to not only see the theater tactical picture but also electronically identify its position to others within the...

The Indian air force's first of six Lockheed Martin C-130J tactical transports will be handed over to the US Air Force on 16 December, ahead of its delivery to the nation in late January. To be based as Hindon air base, New Delhi's first US-built military aircraft will make its public debut at the Aero India air show in Bangalore in early February, says Abhay Paranjape, Lockheed's director, C-130J India. India's first three stretched-fuselage Hercules are involved in pre-delivery testing at Lockheed's Marietta site in Georgia, with the second to also be signed over to the USAF during December and...

The Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E) Center has rated the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] C-5M as "effective, suitable and mission capable" based on results from OT&E testing completed in January 2010. The OT&E phase spanned four months, evaluating various performance aspects to validate the capability and reliability of the C-5M. These positive test results enable the Super Galaxy to continue to support critical missions flown in support of world-wide operational contingencies. "The C-5M test was a resounding success because of teamwork between the test team, the user, the contractor and the program office," said Col. John Scorsone, Director...