Lockheed Martin recently tested new wingtip designs aimed at improving the fuel efficiency of the C-5M Super Galaxy. Engineers tested two separate “winglet” designs fitted to a 10-foot C-5 model in the 16-foot transonic wind tunnel at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex in Tennessee. “The kinds of savings we’re talking about … is reducing the fuel burn of a C-5 by something on the order of 166 gallons per hour” with the addition of features such as winglets, said Jack O’Banion, company mobility improvement director. “The largest consumer of jet fuels is air mobility” in the US military so the possibility for savings is huge, he explained. Lockheed Martin is testing winglet designs as the first of several improvements it hopes to make to the Air Force’s C-5 fleet, if service funds permit, according to AEDC’s Nov. 14 release. (Arnold report by Phillip Lorenz)
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.