(Lockheed) C-5 Galaxy @·AIRCRAFTUBE

  • Lockheed C-5 Galaxy Lockheed C-5 Galaxy
    Lockheed C-5 Galaxy
  • Lockheed C-5 Galaxy Lockheed C-5 Galaxy
    Lockheed C-5 Galaxy
  • C-5A C-5A
    C-5A
  • Lockheed C-5A Galaxy Lockheed C-5A Galaxy
    Lockheed C-5A Galaxy
  • Lockheed<br>C-5B Galaxy Lockheed<br>C-5B Galaxy
    Lockheed
    C-5B Galaxy
  • C-5M C-5M
    C-5M

Lockheed C-5 Galaxy

The largest US military transport, Lockheed's C-5 also ranks as one of the largest aircraft of the 20st century. Capable of carrying payloads of more than 100 tons over intercontinental distances, it has become an important link between the United States and the rest of the world. Though exceptionally large and heavy, its sophisticated landing gear allowed it to set down on relatively unprepared surfaces to deliver manpower, weapons, or machinery to remote sites. Its massive hinged nose allows large vehicles, such as army tanks, to drive on and off without external assistance of any kind.

C-5A/B Galaxy

In 1963, MATS issued a requirement for a "Cargo Experimental Heavy Logistics System (or CX-HLS)" that specified a heavy long-range cargolifter to complement the Starlifter. The CX-HLS was to be capable of carrying 56,700 kilograms (125,000 pounds) of cargo over a range of 12,875 kilometres (8,000 miles).

In mid 1964, the USAF issued short-term contracts to Lockheed, Boeing, and McDonnell-Douglas for design studies of the CX-HLS, as well as to General Electric and Pratt & Whitney for design studies of new, highly efficient "high bypass ratio" turbofans to power the aircraft.

GE won the engine competition in August 1963 with what would become the "TF39" turbofan, and Lockheed won the CX-HLS competition in October 1965 with their "L-500" design. The first Lockheed C-5A Galaxy flew on 30 June 1968. Deliveries began in 1970. A total of 81 C-5As were built.

The C-5A had the same overall configuration as the C-141, with high wing with a sweep of 25 degrees, four jet engines in pods on underwing pylons, a rear loading ramp, a high tee tail, and main landing gear retracting into fairings. However, it was massively scaled up, with the capability of lifting two main battle tanks or transporting 345 fully-equipped troops. The Galaxy was the largest operational aircraft in the world for 15 years, until it was surpassed by the Soviet Antonov An-124 Condor.

The C-5's nose hinged upward to allow "drive-through" access through the unobstructed cargo bay, which was pressurized and climate-conditioned. The upraised nose cleared the cockpit, permitting the aircraft to be taxied with its nose open. The cockpit was placed at the front of an upper flight deck on top of the huge cargo hold, and accommodated a crew of five, including pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, and two loadmasters. The upper deck also included a 15-person crew-relief compartment with bunks in front of the wing, and a passenger compartment behind the wing with 73 rearward-facing seats.

The C-5A was powered by four General Electric TF39-GE1 turbofans with 19,500 kg (or 43,000 lbs) of thrust each. The aircraft had a four sets of main gear, each with two-axle bogies with two wheels in front and four in the rear, and a four-wheel nose gear. The landing gear could "kneel" to assist in loading cargoes, and featured a system to help land in crosswinds. The C-5A had a boom refuelling capability from the start, as well as a computerised "Malfunction Detection, Analysis and Recording (MADAR)" diagnostic system that monitored 800 test points in flight or for ground servicing.

The C-5A proved its worth in the fall of 1973, in Operation "Nickel Grass", the massive airlift to support Israel during the Yom Kippur war, with the big cargolifter carrying massive quantities of ammunition and weapons to assist Israeli forces. The Galaxy also performed reliable service in the last years of the Vietnam War, though one was lost on 4 April 1975, while trying to evacuate orphans from Saigon. 206 of the 382 people aboard were killed, many of them infants.

The C-5A's design specifications had been very aggressive and hard to meet. The program did not go smoothly, and in fact the program is said to have coined the term "cost overrun". One of the long-term problems that resulted was that the aircraft did not live up to its fatigue-life specifications, with the wings having barely a quarter of the 30,000 hour lifetime specified.

In 1975, Lockheed was awarded a contract to provide new wings to all surviving aircraft to increase the wing service life to the specified 30,000 hours. The first re-winged aircraft was delivered to the USAF in 1983, with the re-winging program complete by July 1987.

In 1982, the Air Force awarded Lockheed a contract for a 50 C-5B that included the new wing; uprated TF-39-GE-1C turbofans; improved alloys and fasteners; and improved avionics, including a MADAR II diagnostic system, Bendix weather radar with a colour display, and a Delco triple-redundant inertial navigation system. The landing-gear crosswind landing system of the C-5A, which had proven unreliable, was eliminated. Initial flight of the prototype was on 30 September 1985. Initial deliveries were in 1986 and all deliveries were completed in 1989.

Two C-5s were fitted with a countermeasures suite much like that fitted to the SOLL II Starlifters, under a program designated PACER SNOW. Although some sources claim there were considerations for fitting the entire C-5 fleet with PACER SNOW gear, it didn't happen.

Two C-5As were modified for NASA to carry space shuttle payload bay container cargoes, and were given the new designation of C-5C. They are also known as the "Space Container Transport System (SCTS)", "Space Container Modifications (SCM)", "SCM Birds", or "Scum Birds".

They were flown by Air Force crews but under NASA's operational control, and the USAF had to ask NASA for permission to use them for non-NASA-related missions. They were also rumoured to have been used for ferrying top-secret cargoes to isolated bases for testing, but of course the government has no comment on such matters.

The Galaxy, or "Fred" (for "Fantastic Ridiculous Economic Disaster") as it is known to its crews, has been a valuable asset for US military overseas deployments for three decades, and served with particular distinction in the Gulf War, lifting in a little more than two weeks more than the entire Berlin Airlift in 1949. One was lost in a crash at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany on 29 August 1990. The accident was a misfortune, but at least it was the only loss of a transport during the Gulf War airlift, and only the fifth Galaxy lost during its entire operational history.

Renewing the C-5

As of 2000, the AMC operated 126 C-5s, including 74 C-5As, 50 C-5Bs, and two C-5Cs. The C-5s represent a valuable asset that has a lot of life left in it. Estimated structural life of the airframe is 80,000 hours, while the current flight time on a high-time C-5A is only about 22,000 hours and on a high-time C-5Bs is only about 15,000 hours. The "Fred" has an excellent safety record, but eventually, its reliability left much to be desired. In November 1998, the "mission capable rate" of the AMC C-5 fleet was only 61.8%.

The USAF is now working on programs to upgrade the C-5s to keep them flying until at least 2040. The most prominent part of this effort is the $7 billion USD "Reliability Enhancement & Reengining Program (RERP)", which will replace the current GE TF39 turbofan engines with modern GE CF6-80C2 turbofans.

The CF6-80C2 is well-proven, being used on the Boeing 747 and 767, and normally offers 27,210 kilograms (or 60,000 pounds) thrust each, though the engines will be derated to 22,675 kilograms (or 50,000 pounds) thrust. Lockheed-Martin, which expected to receive a formal contract award for RERP from the USAF in 2001, chose the GE engine over the Pratt & Whitney PW4650 and the Rolls-Royce Trent 500.

RERP would also involve a few structural enhancements to deal with a new pattern of airframe loads; a new auxiliary power unit (or APU); new engine pylons; and improvements to the aircraft's antiskid landing gear and climate-conditioning systems.

RERP is only a part of a suite of upgrades for the C-5. Another element, the $500 million USD "Avionics Modernization Program (AMP)", was begun in 1999, with the first C-5 fitted with an AMP upgrade, consisting of a Honeywell "traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS)", returned to Air Force service in August 2000.

The initial AMP phase features installation of the Honeywell TCAS, with its own dedicated cockpit display. When the full AMP upgrade is finished, the TCAS will be a integrated part of the new cockpit system, which will feature a digital flight-control system; a state-of-the-art communications and navigation system; an ARINC-standard data bus; and six colour flat-panel displays. According to Lockheed-Martin, which is implementing the AMP program, all the new equipment is based on commercially-available products. Once installed, the AMP upgrade will allow the C-5 to meet Global Air Traffic Management standards anywhere in the world.

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Source: greg goebel public domain http://www.airvectors.net/

Specifications (C-5B Galaxy)

  • Crew : 5 + passengers and cargo.
  • Length : 75.54 meters (or 247 ft 10 in).
  • Height : 19.85 meters (or 65 ft 2 in).
  • Wingspan : 67.88 meters (or 222 ft 9 in).
  • Empty weight : 169,650 kgs (or 374,000 lbs).
  • Loaded weight : 379,700 kgs (or 837,000 lbs).
  • Max cruise speed : 910 Km/h (or 565 mph, or 490 Kts).
  • Service ceiling : 10,900 m (or 35,750 ft).
  • Maximum Range : 7,665 miles.
  • Fully-loaded range : 5,525 km (or 3,435 mi, or 2,990 nm).
  • Engines : Four General Electric TF-39 turbofans.
  • Thrust : 41,100 lbs each.

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Source : Greg Goebel public domain http ://www.airvectors.net/

Lockheed C-5 Galaxy : Your comments on this subject
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