The first C-5A transport was inducted earlier this week into the C-5 avionics modernization program, lead contractor Lockheed Martin announced Wednesday. The Air Force has 59 remaining C-5As in its 111-aircraft C-5 fleet. Under AMP, all C-5s, including the B and C variants, will receive new digital cockpit displays and modern navigation and communications equipment that will allow them to operate “unrestricted” in national and international airspace for decades to come, said George Shultz, Lockheed Martin’s vice president of C-5 Modernization. Already 42 C-5s have been fitted with the new avionics and have logged more than 9,400 sorties and 40,000 operational flight hours, Lockheed said. The AMP installations are scheduled to be completed by mid 2014. In addition to the new avionics, the service’s 47 remaining C-5Bs and two C-5Cs will receive new engines under the reliability enhancement and re-engining program. These 49 aircraft will join the three C-5s that were fitted with the new avionics and engines for flight evaluations. C-5s with new avionics and engines are called C-5M Super Galaxies.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.