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Dover C-5s support Afghanistan troop surge

  • Published
  • By Capt. Marnee A.C. Losurdo
  • 512th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  C-5 aircrews from here spent June 15 to July 15 overseas delivering 4 million pounds of cargo to support the troops surge in Afghanistan.

Two C-5M Super Galaxies and two C-5B Galaxies airlifted 103 helicopters to the 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. Soldiers from the Fort Hood, Texas, unit are slated to deploy to Afghanistan in mid-July.

The 2,600-member brigade is part of the 30,000-troop surge in Afghanistan the president announced Nov. 30.

The 512th Airlift Wing here is one of several Air Force Reserve Command units charged with supporting the surge. In April, the wing mobilized 300 Airmen to help move troops and cargo to Southwest Asia.

The 4th Combat Aviation Brigade's Chinook, Apache and Blackhawk helicopters and associated equipment were initially transported by sea to Rota, Spain. From there, more than 40 Dover aircrew members from the Reserve's 709th Airlift Squadron and the Regular Air Force's 9th AS loaded the choppers onto the Air Force's largest airlifters for transport to various locations in Afghanistan, including Kandahar and Bagram Airfields.

The C-5 is able to carry more than any other U.S. military aircraft. It has been an aviation workhorse for the Air Force since the 1970s. However, the C-5M, upgraded with new avionics and engines, is setting a historic precedent as well, said Lt. Col. Mike Semo, 709th AS pilot and chief of the C-5M program office.

"The C-5Ms performance in this surge sets the benchmark for future operations," he said. "Staging the C-5M downrange to transport time-critical cargo direct to a theatre half-way around the world is groundbreaking. This adds a new weapon to our arsenal of direct delivery capability. And, we are extremely proud to enable our troops to accomplish the mission by providing them with life-saving equipment, supplies and cargo."

The C-5M has a decided advantage over the C-5B. It has 22 percent more thrust resulting in a 30 percent shorter take-off and a 58 percent higher climb rate to initial altitude, said Colonel Semo. The aircraft can fly for more than 5,000 miles without refueling, allowing it to bypass traditional en route stops and supply cargo to the war fighter much faster.

Another improvement is the C-5M's ability to perform the mission. For the surge, the C-5M's mission capable rate was up to 85.4 percent, said Chad Gibson, Lockheed Martin. MCRs for the C-5 averaged 67 percent from July 1994 to June 1995, according to globalsecurity.org.

"We expect the reliability to increase further with the first production aircraft that arrives at Dover on Sept. 30," said Colonel Semo.

The first production C-5M will have incorporated the lessons learned from the operational test and evaluation Dover aircrews completed this year. Currently, it's up to Congress as to whether the Air Force will receive more modernized C-5s. However, if approved, 49 more C-5s are scheduled to undergo upgrades completing their conversion to the C-5M.