The C-5M already has made a big impact on the Air Force’s strategic airlift capability and, as attentions turn to the Asia-Pacific, the Super Galaxy will be even more helpful in overcoming the “tyranny of distance” in the region, according to service mobility officials. “We’ll see tremendous improvement in reliability, direct-delivery capability, and fuel efficiency. In turn, all of these will help reduce the demand on tanker platforms and the number of air refueling missions required,” said Lt. Col. Bob Shelton, in discussing the Super Galaxy’s impact. He’s the strategy and integration officer in Air Mobility Command’s operations directorate at Scott AFB, Ill. The Air Force intends to upgrade 52 legacy C-5s to the M configuration by 2016, said Shelton. “The C-5M is the future,” said SSgt. Steven Dow, a flying crew chief with the 436th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Dover AFB, Del., home to the service’s first two C-5M squadrons. Dow added, “I love the C-5—always have in any variant—but the C-5M is spectacular.” (Scott release)
The Air Force is on track to reach its annual goal of graduating 1,500 new pilots that had proved elusive to this point, one year after the service launched a sweeping overhaul of its undergraduate pilot training program, Air Education and Training Command said Sept. 14.
