Super Day for Dover

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org

Dover AFB, Del., took delivery of the first of its C-5M Super Galaxy transports Monday with the arrival of the The Spirit of Global Reach from Lockheed Martin’s facility in Marietta, Ga. Gen. Arthur Lichte, Air Mobility Command commander, flew the aircraft to Dover. “Today, we get to add a new all star to the Dover team lineup,” said Lichte of the newly modernized C-5, which features new engines as well as new avionics for greater performance and reliability. The Spirit of Global Reach is the first of three C-5Ms that Dover will receive for operational testing, which is scheduled to commence later this year. Lockheed is upgrading a total of 52 of the Air Force’s 111 C-5s to the M-model configuration. The Dover aircraft was one of the first three C-5s to be upgraded for use in developmental testing, which concluded last August. Lockheed said in a Feb. 9 release it expects to have the remaining 49 C-5s upgraded and delivered to the Air Force by 2016. The company delivered the first C-5M—another of the developmental test assets—to the Air Force at Robins AFB, Ga., in December. (Includes Dover report by SSgt. Chad Padgett) (For more on the C-5M and USAF’s transport fleet, read Airlift on Thin Ice.)

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org