(National) Guard units selected for new transport planes

[unhappycamper]

Guard units selected for new transport planes
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jul 30, 2010 10:39:55 EDT

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — The Air Force has named the Air National Guard in both Montana and Idaho as finalists to land a new rugged, medium-sized transport plane.

MANG in Great Falls and the Idaho Air National Guard in Boise were selected as candidate bases to operate the C-27J Spartan.

The Air Force said the aircraft, which has a twin turboprop engine, is designed to “give U.S. troops a unique, short takeoff and landing capacity.” The aircraft will provide military troops access to airstrips that other fixed-wings planes couldn’t use.

Air Force spokesman Gary Strasberg says a decision is expected this fall, after the Air Force conducts site surveys at the bases. There will be three operational squadrons for the C-27J, with a total of 12 aircraft and 270 military personnel.

It has not been determined if all three squadrons will be placed at a single base.



unhappycamper comment: Of course there are no dollars mentioned about the cost of these new aircraft.

Wikipedia has a little more info on the C-27J: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-27J




~snip~

Design and development

In 1995, Alenia and Lockheed Martin began discussions to improve Alenia's G.222 using C-130J's glass cockpit with a more powerful version of the G.222's T64G engine and four-blade propellers. The companies began a program for the improved G.222, named C-27J in 1996. This was a US military type designation based on the G.222's C-27A US designation. Then the design was changed to use the C-130J Super Hercules's Rolls-Royce AE 2100 engine and six-blade propeller. Alenia and Lockheed Martin formed Lockheed Martin Alenia Tactical Transport Systems (LMATTS) for the development of C-27J in 1997.<1> The C-27J has a 35% increase in range and a 15% faster cruise speed than the G.222.<1>

The LMATTS joint venture was later dissolved when Lockheed Martin chose to offer the C-130J in 2006 as a contender in the same U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) competition in which the C-27J was competing.<2> Alenia Aeronautica then paired with L-3 Communications to form the Global Military Aircraft Systems (GMAS) joint venture to market the C-27J.<3> Boeing Integrated Defense Systems later joined Alenia and L-3 Communications as a GMAS team member.<4>

The GMAS team bid the C-27J in the Joint Cargo Aircraft competition against Raytheon and EADS North America's C-295. Both the U.S. Army and Air Force JCA orders combined are expected to top 100 aircraft. The JCA will eventually replace the existing C-23 Sherpa, C-12 Huron and C-26 Metroliners in the Army National Guard, and will become a substitute tactical airlift platform for those Air National Guard airlift groups or airlift wings losing C-130E/H/J aircraft to retirement (C-130E) or Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action redistribution of aircraft (C-130H/C-130J).<5><6>

The C-27J had completed the U.S. Department of Defense's Early User Survey evaluations by November 2006, flying 26 hours and surpassing all the JCA program requirements. The GMAS team also announced that the C-27J will be assembled at a facility at Cecil Field, Duval County, Florida.<7> While the final selection of the JCA was expected to be announced in March 2007, the decision came on 13 June 2007, when the Pentagon selected the C-27J as its Joint Cargo Aircraft.<6> A contract worth US$2.04 billion was awarded to the L-3 Communications team for 78 C-27Js along with training and support on 13 June 2007.<8>

On 22 June 2007, Raytheon formally protested the award of the JCA contract to the Alenia C-27J.<9> On 27 September 2007, the GAO announced that it had denied Raytheon’s protest, thereby allowing the Pentagon to go ahead with the C-27J procurement.<10> Prior to Raytheon's protest, the first C-27J aircraft were to begin delivery to the joint US Army-Air Force test and training program in June 2008.<11> The first flight of a US C-27J occurred on 17 June 2008.<12>

The C-27J was being considered as a sole-source contract by the Government of Canada as a future replacement for its current search and rescue airfleet, the contract being worth approximately C$3 billion as of January 2007.<13>

Romania ordered seven C-27Js for delivery from 2008 to replace Antonov An-24 and Antonov An-26 aircraft, beating the EADS CASA C-295.<14> However, the order was blocked by the government in February 2007 upon a legal challenge filed by EADS.<15>. In June 2007, the order was confirmed again when the Romanian court rejected EADS' complaint.<16> The Romanian government officially signed the contract for the delivery of seven C-27Js on 7 December 2007,<17> with the first two Spartans delivered on 12 April 2010.<18>

Orders stand at Italy (12), Greece (12 + 3 options), Bulgaria (5), Lithuania (3), Morocco (4), Romania (7), and United States (38) as of 2020.<17><19><20><21>

[madokie]

1. If my memory serves me right

the C130 was a short takeoff aircraft during our war

ADD: They'd just go a short ways down the runway and then go up at a steep angle

[unhappycamper]

2. I think the C-123 and the Caribou were the STOL aircraft of our war.

123s and Caribous were the only things that could land at our Cambodian PSP-covered landing strip. I can tell you a few funny stories about both of them.

[Gaedel]

6. C-123

The C-123 was originally conceived as a dual purpose plane. it could be built in the motorized version or in a non-motorized glider version. The Air Force (and the Army) then decided that they didn't want any more towed glider ops. The C-123 then soldiered on in the motorized version, but still had the boat-like fuselage which would allow for a wheels-up landing (at least once). I flew in them several times in VN. The USAF quickly got rid of the C-123 and the Caribou to rely on the C-130 which was not as short field, not as rugged, and which needed a lot more maintenance.

[MajorChode]

3. It was for both Iraq wars and most of Afghanistan also

Even after the C-27 was introduced, it wasn't used extensively for the hottest part of the war. The USAF didn't want to put them in harms way since they were so expensive.

[unhappycamper]

4. Any idea how many $$$$ these things cost?

Wikipedia is notorious for low-ball $$$ on military hardware.

[MajorChode]

5. Donno

I actually got mixed up with the C-17, which is a very expensive plane. I'm sure the C-27s are relatively cheap in the big scheme of things. It makes sense to give them to the ANG first as they are performing most of the USAF's transport mission anyway.