The C-5 
Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program has entered into its full-rate production phase with the Air Force’s award of a $162.9 million contract to Lockheed Martin this week. This contract covers the advanced procurement of materials and components for RERP Lot 5. The company will upgrade 11 C-5s during this lot, with touch labor starting on them in October 2012, Lockheed C-5 spokesman Chad Gibson told the Daily Report Thursday. Under RERP, Lockheed is installing General Electric CF6-80C2 engines, along with a host of improvements to the airframe and aircraft systems, to boost the C-5’s performance and reliability. Fifty-two C-5s (one C-5A, 49 C-5Bs, and two C-5Cs) will undergo the RERP upgrade, which, along with new avionics installed under a separate project, will transform them into the new C-5M Super Galaxy configuration. Lockheed has delivered four C-5Ms already and senior Air Force officials have praised the Super Galaxy’s performance.
The design of the launch facilities for the Air Force’s new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile are likely to undergo major revision, posing yet another challenge for the much-delayed and over-budget program to modernize the land-based component of America’s nuclear triad, officials said.