According to Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force Chief of Staff, the service has not closed the door on providing new engines as well as avionics upgrades to its oldest C-5 airlifters, the A models. Currently, the service has planned only to employ full modernization—the so-called RERP for reliability enhancement and reengining program—for 49 C-5B models and two C-5C models. It has fully modernized one C-5A model and two C-5Bs for the RERP test program; those three aircraft are now C-5M models. Lockheed Martin began work on the first production RERP aircraft last summer and this month received low-rate-initial-production funding.
As the Space Force moves forward with plans to modernize its weather satellite architecture, it’s working closely with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to share data and leverage the agency’s modeling and validation tools, officials told lawmakers in a Jan. 13 hearing.
