The Pentagon 
acquisition leadership is expected to approve full-rate production for Lockheed Martin’s C-5 Reliability Enhancement and Re-Engining Program on Thursday, according to company officials. Already the Air Force has taken delivery of four of the 52 C-5s set to receive this upgrade, along with new avionics under a separate initiative, that transforms the aircraft into the new, more capable C-5M Super Galaxy configuration. The company’s production line in Marietta, Ga., will ramp up to modifying 11 C-5s per year at full rates, and finally 12 in the final year before the program concludes in 2016. Lorraine Martin, Lockheed’s C-5 vice president, said last week the company could accommodate two more aircraft annually without adding more tooling, should the Air Force decide to expand RERP and upgrade its C-5As now outside of the program. (For more, read Super Galaxy from the Air Force Magazine archives.)
Today’s armament maintainers are tasked with performing flightline (O-Level) maintenance with an assortment of legacy test sets that greatly limit the ability to quickly and efficiently verify armament system readiness, diagnose failures, and ultimately return the aircraft to full mission...