The 13th C-5 Galaxy landed in Marietta, Ga., for transformation into a Super Galaxy on the modification line at Lockheed Martin’s aircraft plant there, announced the company. This airplane, serial number 87-0036, is the second C-5B from Travis AFB, Calif., to enter the modification line, according to the company’s June 14 release. The company inducted the aircraft on the previous day. Workers at the plant will fit this C-5 with new high-bypass turbofan engines and roughly 70 key physical upgrades under the Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program. The aircraft already has an upgraded cockpit with new glass-panel displays and digital flight controls. When it emerges from the RERP line, the airplane will be in the new C-5M configuration. It is slated for delivery to Dover AFB, Del., in 2013 after the upgrade is complete, according to Lockheed Martin. Overall, this is the 16th of 52 C-5s meant to undergo the RERP modification and conversion to a C-5M. Lockheed completed the first three airplanes for RERP testing before the modification line was in place.
House lawmakers are encouraging the Air Force and U.S. Special Operations Command to work together as each pursues long-range, long-endurance reconnaissance drones. Both entities are investing in unmanned assets that can slip into highly defended areas, loiter over a particularly valuable target for days at a time, and traverse multiple…