It’s no secret that the C-5 and C-17 are getting older.
The C-5 started flying in 1970, and the C-17 joined the Air Drive stock in 1993. With the ages of those very important plane, it appears logical that america would have replacements prepared or at the least be growing new transport plane.
Nonetheless, that’s not the case. As a substitute, america is spending billions on refurbishments and modifications. Another concepts do exist, however there aren’t any particular plans.
C-5 and C-17 Have Offered Vital Airlift For A long time
The Lockheed C-5M Tremendous Galaxy is the most important plane within the Air Drive stock. With 4 Basic Electrical CF6-80C2-L1F engines and 5 units of touchdown gear, it may well fly roughly 5,524 miles unrefueled. It may well additionally function from comparatively quick runways, contemplating its dimension. At 247 ft lengthy, a width of 19 ft, and a peak of 65 ft, it may well carry a most cargo of 221,000 kilos.
The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is maybe essentially the most versatile transport plane within the Air Drive. It may well carry out missions starting from tactical airlift and airdrop to aeromedical evacuation. It carries 4 Pratt & Whitney F117-PW-100 turbofan engines and may deploy its thrust reversers upward and ahead to create drag throughout descents and even make the plane taxi in reverse.
The C-17 is 174 ft lengthy and 55 ft excessive, and its cargo compartment is eighteen ft huge. It may well carry 170,000 kilos of cargo.
The primary operational C-5 arrived at Charleston AFB, South Carolina in 1970. Lockheed constructed 131 C-5s, and manufacturing ran from 1968 to 1973. The primary manufacturing mannequin of the C-17 additionally went to Charleston years later, in 1993. Boeing constructed 279 C-17s between 1991 and 2015.
Now, with each plane many years outdated, the Air Drive should determine easy methods to keep a robust, even improved, air mobility functionality. As of 2025, it seems the Air Drive is concentrated on refurbishing and updating the C-5 and C-17.
Billions Spent for Main Upgrades, Not Replacements, for C-5 and C-17
In 2018, the Air Drive invested $10 billion in an improve for the C-5. This effort was known as the Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program (RERP) and the Avionics Modernization Program (AMP). It included changing the GE TF-39 engines with extra highly effective and dependable GE CF6-80C2 turbofans. The acknowledged objective was to push C-5 mission succesful (MC) charges to about 75% and for the plane to stay in service into the 2040s.
Nonetheless, following some constructive outcomes, the fleet’s readiness numbers have decreased. From 2022 to 2023, mission succesful charges dropped from 52% to 46%. Air Drive officers responded by saying the decline was on account of an absence of obtainable components.
The Air Drive can also be spending cash on the C-17. In 2022, the service contracted with Boeing on a $24 billion contract for the Globe 2.0 program. Key components of this embrace analysis and growth and trial equipment installations to deal with obsolescence issues and add new capabilities to the plane. Some specifics of this may embrace putting in new Core Built-in Processors, a modernized GPS, and infrared countermeasures.
In 2024, the C-17 mission succesful price was 75.2%, down from 76% in 2023. This is probably not a major drop, however it’s clearly a discount.
Air Drive Officers Involved About Ageing C-5 and C-17 Plane
Whereas it’s unclear how profitable these refurbishment and modernization packages could also be, Air Drive officers are involved. In 2022, the USAF Air Mobility Command addressed potential mobility points in a doc known as “The Mobility Manifesto.”
One part offers with the general program: “The State of Acquisition is Uncompetitive. Our planning, funds, and execution course of is sluggish, cumbersome, and insufficient. Business produces distinctive and beautiful mobility platforms at nice price and time, however not en masse.”
The doc continues with a stark warning: “Our drive posture and acquisition has set us on a collision course to fail.”
Lastly, the doc addresses the necessity for modernized assist capabilities for air mobility: “Foremost, technical enhancements should come on the aft finish of the plane—the supplies dealing with tools, the loading tools, the refueling expertise, and in-transit visibility should be uniform and customary throughout the board. With out these enhancements, we can’t enhance mass.”
A number of Concepts, However No Plans For Replacements for C-5 and C-17
Whereas there aren’t any particular plans for plane to exchange the C-5 and C-17, there was some dialogue of attainable options.
NASA and Lockheed Martin addressed this subject in a 2000 doc titled “The Way forward for Very Giant Subsonic Transports.” The doc describes the need to develop a Very Giant Subsonic Transport, a “multi-use business passenger, business cargo, and army airlifter roughly 50% bigger than the present Lockheed C-5 and Boeing 747.”
It explicitly refers to Air Drive wants for “army airlift with satisfactory capability to load present weapon methods, with minimal break-down, over international ranges (7,000 to 10,000 miles) required to succeed in the operational theater with no need abroad bases and midair refueling.”
The Air Drive has explored choices to deal with a possible mobility hole. In 2019, then-Secretary of the Air Drive Heather Wilson proposed changing two C-130 squadrons with three C-17 squadrons, requiring an unspecified variety of new C-17s. When questioned concerning the supply of those plane, Wilson acknowledged, “These are particulars that now we have not checked out.”
Boeing has even hinted that it may take into account restarting its C-17 manufacturing line, which closed in 2015. In February 2024, Boeing’s vp and normal supervisor for international providers, Torbjorn Sjogren, mentioned a number of potential prospects had been asking about new C-17s.
“The C-17 is a product that does come up very often. If we nonetheless had a lukewarm manufacturing line, there are a selection of consumers who’ve expressed curiosity,” mentioned Sjogren.
