Bell Boeing Tapped For V-22 CC-RAM Support | Turkey Upgraded 7 C-130s | Japan Builds 2 Aegis Warships

Americas

Bell Boeing won a $170.4 million contract modification, which adds scope for the production and delivery of one CMV-22B variation in quantity aircraft for the Navy and exercises options for V-22 Common Configuration Readiness and Modernization (CC-RAM) Lot 4 requirements. Additionally, this modification provides for planned maintenance interval inspections, repairs, shipping and storage containers and tooling in support of the V-22 CC-RAM program. The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is a joint service, multirole combat aircraft that uses tiltrotor technology to combine the vertical performance of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft. With its nacelles and rotors in vertical position, it can take off, land and hover like a helicopter. Once airborne, its nacelles can be rotated to transition the aircraft to a turboprop airplane capable of high-speed, high-altitude flight. Work will take place in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania and Fort Worth, Texas. Estimated completion is in September 2024.

McCallie Associates won a $27.6 million contract for C-5M sustainment. This contract is for the delivery of technical data for organizational maintenance of the C-5M using a common source database. The C-5M Super Galaxy strategic transport aircraft, a modernized version of the legacy C-5, was designed and manufactured by Lockheed Martin to extend the capability of the C-5 Galaxy fleet to remain in service at least until 2040. The C-5M Super Galaxy transport aircraft achieved initial operational capability (IOC) in February 2014. Work will take place in Nebraska. Expected completion date is June 9, 2025.

Middle East & Africa

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) announced that it has carried out seven aircraft modifications under the Erciyes C130 Modernization Project. The program’s scope is to upgrade the avionic system of 13 C-130E and 6 C-130B aircraft under a contract signed between TAI and the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) in 2006. A total of 23 systems and 117 components have been modernized along with the central control computer, which has been completely developed by TAI engineers and described as the brain of the aircraft, the company statement said. Additionally, other critical systems are being modernized and nationalized as part of the project, including the GPS, indicator, anti-collision system, weather radar, advanced military and civilian navigation systems, nighttime invisible illumination for military missions, the voice-recorded black box, communication systems, advanced automatic flight systems (military and civilian), the digital floating map and ground mission planning systems.

Europe

According to Jane’s, Airbus is offering a Tranche 5 standard of the Eurofighter combat aircraft to replace Germany’s fleet of Panavia Tornados. Speaking at a virtual running of the company’s annual Trade Media Briefing (TMB), the head of combat aircraft business development, Wolfgang Gammel, said that this future standard will be offered to the Luftwaffe as the service looks to replace 90 Tornado Interdiction and Strike (IDS) and Electronic Combat Reconnaissance (ECR) aircraft with 85 new aircraft from 2030.

Asia-Pacific

Japan has officially decided that it will build two more Aegis warships to replace the abandoned Aegis Ashore program, Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said. Tokyo will also be extended the range of its indigenous Type 12 surface-to-ship missile.Opposition lawmakers criticize the move to boost the range of the missile, saying that this is to make the weapon as a tool to attack enemy bases. Chief cabinet secretary Kato explained that the range improvement was to extend the defense capabilities.

South Korea received a bid from a US aerospace manufacturer for attack helicopters that can be introduced to South Korea’s Marine Corps. Vince Tobin, executive vice president at Bell Textron Inc., based in Fort Worth, Texas, said Wednesday at a virtual press conference in Seoul that the company’s AH-1Z Viper would provide superior support, Yonhap and Newsis reported. The helicopter with anti-armor and air-to-air missile capabilities can take on the “broadest array of threats” in “any environment on land or sea” while withstanding saltwater corrosion and resistant to dust and sand, the US manufacturer said.

Today’s Video

Watch: Here’s What Can Fit inside C-5M Super Galaxy The Largest Aircraft

Saving the Galaxy: The C-5 AMP/RERP Program

When it was introduced, back in 1970, the C-5 Galaxy was the largest plane in the world. It also has the highest operating cost of any US Air Force weapon system, owing to extremely high maintenance demands as well as poor fuel economy. Worse, availability rates routinely hover near 50%. To add insult to injury, the Russians not only built a bigger plane (the AN-124), they sold it off at the end of the Cold War to semi-private operators, turning it into a commercial success whose customer list now includes… NATO.

Meanwhile, the USA still needs long-range, heavy load airlift. The AN-124’s commercial success may get its production line restarted, but the C-5 has no such hope. Boeing’s smaller C-17s cost more than $200 million per plane. That’s about the cost of a 747-8 freighter, for much higher availability rates than the C-5, and a longer lifespan.

What’s the right balance between new C-17s and existing C-5s? The US Air Force believes that the right balance involves keeping some of the larger C-5s, and thought they could save money by upgrading and renewing their avionics (AMP) and engines (RERP). Their hope was that this would eliminate the problems that keep so many C-5s in the hangar, cut down on future maintenance costs, and grow airlift capacity, without adding new planes. Unfortunately, the program experienced major cost growth. In response, the C-5M program wound up being both cut in size, and cut in 2. The C-5A and C-5B/C fleets are now slated for different treatment, which will deliver fewer of the hoped-for benefits, in exchange for lower costs and lower risk.