Posted on 03/10/2010 7:47:24 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
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 of Test and Evaluation for Air Mobility Command. "The integrated test team will now transition to an integrated fielding team which will build on past relationships to help this program achieve even more record-breaking results."
In addition to setting 42 world records last year, the C-5Ms delivered needed cargo to the warfighter during OT&E and continue to perform combat support missions today. Performance during OT&E proved the modernized A and B models of the C-5 are redefining strategic airlift for the military and will be a force multiplier for decades to come.
Payload and range improvements in the C-5M enable a fully loaded aircraft to fly unrefueled for more than 5,000 miles and bypass traditional en route stops. This not only saves thousands of gallons of fuel, but decreases the amount of time needed to get precious cargo to the warfighters destination.
(Excerpt) Read more at air-attack.com ...
I have some C-5 photos and trivia on my home page.
Again, WOW!
Previous engine was the GE TF-39.
The new engines make them more fuel efficient, so they can fly further without refueling, or alternatively they can carry less fuel and more payload. (Although generally they are volume rather than weight limited) However the CF6 family of engines is derived from the TF-39.
Here's an article which talks about the upgrades that resulted in the C-5M.
The same engine will be used on the new Boeing 767 tanker... we hope, which will mean simplified logistics for the Air Force. Now if they'd just stick 4 of them on the BUFF...
It might not be so terribly different, just not so so much whine to go with the "growl" . I heard a 767 taking off yesterday, but I though it might be a C-5 before I looked. Of course the 767 only has two of the CF6 engines, Fat Albert has 4.
I hope they are not so very different. I used to work in San Antonio right under the approach to Kelly field (at Lackland AFB), which has an AF Reserve C-5 "school house" unit. I still work for the company, but now on Ft. Hood, where the AAF runway is only about 1/2 mile from the building. That same reserve unit's birds can often been seen in the pattern at Gray AAF.
Great photos and stories. Question: With all that wasted volume carrying limos, wouldn’t it make more sense to fly 2 or 3 smaller cargo jets, each with a single file row of limos?
Or is this more a matter of “presence”, by having your car arrive in the BFA around?
Ah! Very well! Thanks for the info.
Regarding the Buff... It’s just mind-blowing how many years and how much mileage we’ve gotten out of that airframe.
Back in my Navy days, whenst I was with my boat an Mare Island in Nor Cal, I used to go up to Travis AFB just to watch these behemoths fly in and out. It boggles the mind that something so huge can stay in the air....especially when from a distance, it looks like they are going so damn slow.
We also carried up to 70 Secret Service in the troop compartment. Other C-5s also carried Presidential helicopters and “other” equipment. Loading and unloading the vehicles was done quickly.
The C-5 isn’t all that big.
It’s just twice as far away as you thought it was.
Answer: The base only has two sets of jacks.
Bigger, more powerful engines, and a completely redone cockpit avionics suite...the "glass cockpit" is used extensively in the M model.
For whatever reason, they've had a devil of a time getting that funded over the last decade or two.
Its just twice as far away as you thought it was.
That's a good one. And the A-124 is 3 times further away than I thought it was.
I saw one at El Toro Marine Base when I was about ten, and got to look around it. I did not have the presence of mind to look then, but I've always wondered over the years: Is there a bathroom, or do they have to make "truckers' lemonade"?
Regarding the bunk rooms, when I flew them we used to say “we can sleep six or **** twelve.”
My mom’s ex-boyfriend was a loadmaster on the C-5. He took me into one at an airshow. Wow. I used to think the C-130’s were big.
Big & loud. I remember them well. A couple used to land at Kelly AFB. I cannot remember if they were stationed there.
I remember watching those babies fly in and out of McDill back during GW I. Impressive machines.
And a size perspective. KC-135 and C5
It looks like you could take the wings off a KC-135, and maybe cram two of them inside a Galaxy.
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