Flight testing of the C-5M Galaxy, which wrapped up in August, showed about a 20 percent improvement in fuel efficiency and a takeoff reliability of 82-85 percent, Lockheed Martin mobility programs VP Jim Grant said Wednesday. The C-5M is the product both of the Avionics Modernization Program and the Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program. The requirement for full production of the RERP is to achieve 75 percent takeoff reliability, and Grant said the flight tests offered encouragement that the goal will be met. Operational test and evaluation formally starts next summer, but crews will start operating with the C-5M to get familiar with it as early as February, he said. Three C-5s have been reconfigured as C-5Ms—two “B” models and one “A” model. The Air Force decided earlier this year to only perform the RERP on the B fleet, but Grant said he thinks ongoing mobility evaluations may call for retaining all the Galaxys for the long term. The schedule for installing the RERP—assuming it is approved—begins in Fiscal 2010 and wraps up in 2016.
Boeing received a $2.47 billion Air Force contract Nov. 25 for 15 more KC-46s, bringing to 183 the number of Pegasus tankers on contract to all customers, foreign and domestic. The new contract—for Lot 12 of the initially planned KC-46 buy—is to be completed by 2029.
