Lockheed Martin announced Wednesday that the first of the Air Force’s C-5 transports slated to receive new engines and reliability improvements has been inducted into the company’s modification line in Marietta, Ga. Work on this aircraft, a C-5B model from Dover AFB, Del., will take place over the next 13 months, Lockheed said. All told, the Air Force plans to upgrade 52 of its 111 C-5s (one C-5A, 49 C-5Bs, and two C-5Cs) by 2016 under the reliability enhancement and re-engining program. Already the one C-5A and two C-5Bs were modified for use in testing these improvements. The RERP changes, coupled with new avionics installed under a separate initiative, will allow these 52 C-5s to climb higher and faster and carry more cargo over greater distances, all while being more reliable platforms. The remaining 59 C-5s, all C-5A models, will get only the new avionics.
President Donald Trump projected confidence Nov. 19 that a proposed sale of F-35s to Saudi Arabia will sail through the Foreign Military Sales process, an early test of the Pentagon’s acquisition reforms. The deal is also likely to face scrutiny from ally Israel over how it could affect the balance…
