Lockheed Martin announced on Monday that it delivered the 79th and final C-5 Galaxy transport that it fitted with state-of-the-art cockpit equipment under the Air Force’s Avionics Modernization Program. The upgraded C-5A’s handover took place at Travis AFB, Calif., on April 27, according to the company. “This delivery continues the ever-growing legacy of the C-5 Galaxy and the critical role it plays in supporting the warfighter across the globe,” said Greg Ulmer, Lockheed Martin’s C-5 program vice president. This C-5, aircraft 70-448, will be assigned to Air Force Reserve Command’s 433rd Airlift Wing at JB San Antonio-Lackland, Tex., stated the company. Lockheed Martin began the AMP in 1998 to install a mission computer; glass cockpit with digital avionics; autopilot capabilities; and state-of-the-art communications, navigation, and surveillance components on the C-5. The Air Force intends to retain 52 C-5s (one C-5A, 49 C-5Bs, and two C-5Cs) with the new avionics and give them new engines and reliability enhancements, converting them to the new C-5M Super Galaxy configuration. At the same time, the service is proposing retiring the remaining C-5s—27 C-5As—in its Fiscal 2013 budget proposal.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…