Article Posted on : - Aug 25, 2011

C-5M Super Galaxy aircraft. Photo: Lockheed Martin.

MARIETTA, GEORGIA (BNS): Lockheed Martin Wednesday delivered the third production C-5M Super Galaxy to the US Air Force.

The sixth C-5M overall to be delivered to the Air Force, this aircraft will undergo internal paint restoration at Stewart Air National Guard Base, New York, before traveling to its permanent home at Dover AFB, Delaware.

According to a news release by Lockheed Martin, the company is on contract to modernise a total of 52 C-5s, consisting of 49 B-, two C- and one A-model aircraft through the Reliability Enhancement and Re-Engining Program (RERP).

The programme incorporates more than 70 changes and upgrades, including newer, quieter General Electric engines making the C-5M more reliable and 10 percent more fuel efficient than legacy C-5s.

The Super galaxy is the direct delivery weapon system and the only strategic airlifter capable of linking the homeland directly to the warfighter in all theaters of combat without refueling. The C-5M recently delivered 3,300 tons of helicopters to Afghanistan with a mission capable rate of nearly 90 percent.

The C-5 can carry twice the cargo of other strategic airlift systems and is the only strategic airlifter capable of carrying 100 percent of certified air-transportable cargo.