DTN News - LOCKHEED MARTIN DEFENSE NEWS: Eleventh C-5B Inducted To Become Super Galaxy

Defense News: DTN News - LOCKHEED MARTIN DEFENSE NEWS: Eleventh C-5B Inducted To Become Super Galaxy
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Lockheed Martin
 (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 7, 2012: Lockheed Martin inducted the 11th aircraft to the C-5M Super Galaxy production line on Feb. 1, 2012. 

Based at Dover Air Force Base, Del., this aircraft has supported the warfighter’s operations across the globe. It has delivered cargo in locations such as Iraq, Italy, Germany, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Spain and Turkey. 

Aircraft 86-0017 has accumulated more than 18,000 flight hours and more than 4,300 full-stop landings

Mission The C-5 Galaxy is one of the largest aircraft in the world and the largest airlifter in the Air Force inventory. The aircraft can carry a fully equipped combat-ready military unit to any point in the world on short notice and then provide the supplies required to help sustain the fighting force. 

Features 
The C-5 has a greater capacity than any other airlifter. It has the ability to carry 36 standard pallets and 81 troops simultaneously. The Galaxy is also capable of carrying any of the Army's air-transportable combat equipment, including such bulky items as the 74-ton mobile scissors bridge. It can also carry outsize and oversize cargo over intercontinental ranges and can take off or land in relatively short distances. Ground crews are able to load and off-load the C-5 simultaneously at the front and rear cargo openings, reducing cargo transfer times. Other features of the C-5 are: 
   · Able to operate on runways 6,000 feet long (1,829 meters).
   · Five landing gear totaling 28 wheels to distribute the weight. 
   · Nose and aft doors that open the full width and height of the cargo    
     compartment to permit faster and easier loading. 
   · A "kneeling" landing gear system that permits lowering the parked 
     aircraft to facilitate drive-on/drive-off vehicle loading and adjusts the 
     cargo floor to standard truck-bed height. 
   · Full width drive-on ramps at each end for loading double rows of 
     vehicles. 
   · A system that records and analyzes information and detects 
     malfunctions in more than 800 test points. 

The C-5 has the distinctive high T-tail, 25-degree wing sweep, and four TF39 turbofan engines (C-5A and B) mounted on pylons beneath the wings. These engines are each rated at 43,000 pounds of thrust and weigh 7,900 pounds (3,555 kilograms) a piece. They have an air intake diameter of more than 8.5 feet (2.6 meters). Each engine pod is nearly 27 feet long (8.2 meters).

The Galaxy has 12 internal wing tanks with a total capacity of 51,150 gallons (194,370 liters) of fuel -- enough to fill 6 1/2 regular size railroad tank cars. A full fuel load weighs 332,500 pounds (150,820 kilograms). A C-5 with a cargo load of 270,000 pounds (122,472 kilograms) can fly 2,150 nautical miles, offload, and fly to a second base 500 nautical miles away from the original destination -- all without aerial refueling. With aerial refueling, the aircraft's range is limited only by crew endurance.

BackgroundLockheed-Georgia Co. delivered the first operational Galaxy to the 437th Airlift Wing, Charleston Air Force Base, now known as Joint Base Charleston, S.C., in June l970. C-5s are operated by active-duty, Reserve, and Air National Guard crews. They are currently stationed at Dover AFB, Del.; Travis AFB, Calif.; Lackland AFB, Texas; Martinsburg ANGB, W.V.; Memphis ANGB, Tenn. and Westover Air Reserve Base, Mass.

In March 1989, the last of 50 C-5Bs was added to the 76 C-5As in the Air Force's airlift force structure. The C-5B includes all C-5A improvements as well as more than 100 additional system modifications to improve reliability and maintainability. 

Based on a study showing 80 percent of the C-5 airframe service life remaining, AMC began an aggressive program to modernize the C-5 in 1998. The C-5 Avionics Modernization Program included upgrading the avionics to improve communications, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management compliance. The upgrade also added new safety equipment and installed a new autopilot system.

Another part of the C-5 modernization plan is a comprehensive Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program. The centerpiece of this program is the General Electric CF6-80C2 (F-138) commercial engine. This engine delivers a 22 percent increase in thrust, a 30 percent shorter take-off roll, has a 58 percent faster climb rate and will allow significantly more cargo to be carried over longer distances. With its new engine and upgrades, the C-5 becomes the C-5M Super Galaxy. This modernization program will enhance aircraft reliability and maintainability, maintain structural and system integrity, reduce cost of ownership and increase operational capability well into the 21st century.

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*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Lockheed Martin
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DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Kyrgyzstan PM Says U.S. Air Base's Days Are Numbered

Defense News: DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Kyrgyzstan PM Says U.S. Air Base's Days Are Numbered

**US to leave Manas air base by 2014

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Joshua Kucera - Eurasianet.org

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - August 31, 2011: Kyrgyzstan's Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev has declared that the U.S. will have to leave its air base at Manas in 2014. In some comments to Russian journalists, reported by 24.kg, he said the government will fulfill the current agreement it has with the U.S., but then no more:

“You know, the former leadership of [the Kyrgyz Republic] with their biased attitude towards the undertaken international obligations has already spoiled outside image of Kyrgyzstan. In order to break that image somehow, we just have to execute an already concluded agreement. The contract for the Transit Center will expire in 2014. Our position is the following: we will notify in six months the U.S. side of the termination of the contract in full compliance with assumed obligations and from 2014 there will be the first major civilian international transport junction. Any capital can participate in the formation of his transport junction even though the Russian although the western.”

(That last comment appears to reference his previously stated plan to turn Manas into an international cargo transit facility.)

Needless to say, this shouldn't be taken as the final word. 2014 is three years away, who knows if Atambayev will still be in the government, and the U.S. hasn't had a chance to negotiate. Still it's an interesting statement by Atambayev, one of the leading candidates in Kyrgyzstan's October presidential elections. He seems to be trying to position himself as the pro-Russia candidate, so this is a natural political position for him to stake out.

Atambayev did break a bit of news, saying that the contract with Mina Corp will end, and the Kyrgyz-Russian joint venture will take over, next month:

“The situation when kerosene was supplied to the base through a series of unintelligible middlemen is reaching back. We have already agreed on a contract in all respects, in terms of deliveries, in volume with the Russian side and with the USA. The contract will be signed in September and the first delivers will begin. We will start with ambitious plans; the joint venture must demonstrate that it copes with assumed obligations within three months. Then in prospect we want to bring its share in the supplies of up to 90 percent of all jet fuel the base requires,” noted Almazbek Atambayev.

In June, an industry analyst told my EurasiaNet colleague that the departure of Mina Corp. will be a "major headache" for the Defense Logistics Agency, the Pentagon organization that manages fuel deliveries to Manas. That's because Mina Corp., for all its murky background, has a solid record of delivering fuel on time to the base. There's no guarantee that the new joint venture will do the same.

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*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Joshua Kucera - Eurasianet.org

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DTN News: Kyrgyzstan’s Uncertain Future Looms Over Fate Of U.S. Air Base

Defense News: DTN News: Kyrgyzstan’s Uncertain Future Looms Over Fate Of U.S. Air Base

Source: David Wasson - The Spokemans Review

(NSI News Source Info) MANAS TRANSIT CENTER, Kyrgyzstan - October 26, 2010: Taking advantage of an invitation to tour this small U.S. air base as a friend of a civilian Kyrgyz national who works here, tobacco producer Ulvgbek Abazgano took a moment to reflect as he struggled to describe what he was feeling.

The roads are paved and smooth. The buildings, primarily reinforced tents and other temporary quarters common among U.S. expeditionary bases, all have hot and cold running water, flush toilets, heat and air conditioning. Food is plentiful.

“It’s like a small America here,” said Abazgano, who speaks some English but relied on an interpreter to help him find the right words.

The strategically located Manas, where hundreds of airmen from Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane are regularly deployed, is a key supply and refueling hub for U.S. and coalition combat operations in nearby Afghanistan.

But after nine years in the former Soviet republic, and at least one scuttled eviction notice, the base’s future remains unclear.

Political turmoil, pitting pro-democracy reformers against pro-Moscow hardliners for control of the impoverished nation, has turned the base into a wedge issue.

U.S. military commanders insist their sole focus is the mission at hand, which is quickly getting troops, cargo and fuel into Afghanistan. They’re content to let the State Department and others tend to the internal politics of Kyrgyzstan, the only nation in the world to host both U.S. and Russian military bases.

Whether they like it or not, though, the roughly 1,000 military men and women deployed at Manas also serve as de facto diplomats, particularly with the Air Force embarking on expansion plans that put greater emphasis on large-scale permanent improvements.

Now under way, for example, is a $31 million tarmac expansion that will enable all military aircraft to be moved into secure locations away from the nearby commercial terminal at Manas International Airport. The base uses the commercial airport’s runway.

Col. Dwight Sones, commander of the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing at Manas, defends the project and its cost while acknowledging he’s uncertain how long the base will be here.

Its one-year, $60 million lease for the land the base is built on expires next year, meaning the base’s future is in the hands of a new government being assembled from among the five political parties that won seats in Kyrgyzstan’s newly empowered parliament earlier this month.

“You can’t keep holding off on projects that need to be done,” said Sones, who took over as base commander in June and has launched ambitious efforts to engage and support the Kyrgyz population, with a greater emphasis on humanitarian assistance.

“Many times, people will ask, ‘Will the base be here next year?’ ” he said. “People have been asking that every year, and we’ve been here nine years now.”

Sones said he believes Kyrgyzstan is important to America, both for its proximity to the war effort in Afghanistan and as an emerging democracy in a part of the world ruled for decades under authoritarian control.

“Kyrgyzstan is the crown jewel of Asia,” Sones said last week during an interview with Spokane-area journalists in his briefing room at Manas headquarters.

Charismatic and confident, Sones has no trouble working a crowd even when he needs a translator to convey his message.

Earlier this month, he welcomed an estimated 2,000 Kyrgyz nationals, primarily friends and family of civilian employees from the Bishkek area who work on the base, drawing several rounds of cheers and applause.

He posed for pictures. Taught youngsters how to fist-bump. And rarely missed an opportunity to extol the benefits of U.S. and Kyrgyz partnerships: “With positive relationships, you get so much more done,” Sones told a handful of Kyrgyz journalists from Bishkek in an impromptu news conference near a barbecue pit where long lines of base visitors were waiting for American-style beef ribs.

Outside observers applaud the aggressive outreach efforts but said U.S. officials may have waited too long.

“One of the reasons that base is on tenuous grounds is because there’s been a failure by the U.S. to communicate the benefits to the residents of Kyrgyzstan,” said Sam Patten, senior Eurasia program manager for the Washington-based Freedom House, a nonpartisan watchdog group that promotes democratic values. “The United States offers them a better option than some of these other countries looking to influence them.”

Namely, China and Russia.

Kyrgyzstan, a nation of 5.5 million people, is at a crossroads.

Much of the civil infrastructure, from roads to schools to utilities, was built by the Russians when it was part of the USSR, and has gone largely neglected for nearly 20 years following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. A revolution in 2005 swept into power a new coalition, which was ousted following violent street protests this past April. An interim government is in place until representatives of the five political parties that won seats in parliament can form a coalition government.

“My sense is the people of that country want results,” said Patten, who spent three weeks in Kyrgyzstan this fall. “They’re tired of elections, and talk of change. They want electricity and heat as winter comes.”

Fairchild airmen have taken on key roles in the community outreach efforts, volunteering to deliver humanitarian supplies and help rebuild decaying schools, emergency shelters and other community fixtures. The base’s doctors have organized educational seminars and training for Kyrgyz physicians.

“We actually make a lot of friends out here,” said Airman 1st Class Wesley Nesbitt, who helps oversee Kyrgyz contractors hired at the base and is among those volunteering to deliver humanitarian aid, sometimes digging into his own pocket to pay for needed supplies. “It’s really nice to get to know people and help where we can.”

Nesbitt is helping design many of the base improvements that military commanders are considering.

Base offices are located mostly in portables, including converted cargo containers for easy placement and removal. Many others are still in reinforced tents symbolic of short-term, expeditionary bases.

“Our hope, of course, is to make these facilities more permanent and be good partners with the Kyrgyz people,” Nesbitt said. “But they just had elections here, and that could factor in.”

Sultan Aiylchiev, 23, a recent college graduate and financial services consultant in Bishkek, acknowledged that Kyrgyz feelings about the U.S. base vary.

“It’s really complicated,” Aiylchiev said, using an interpreter to help him with his English. “For one side, it’s all political. But unemployment in our country is high, and there’s also the economic side of it.

“What the base shows is there’s another way of life.”

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com
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U.S.-Kyrgyz Deal Allows Military Cargo Shipment

ASTANA, Kyrgyzstan - A new agreement that allows the U.S. to retain a key air base in Kyrgyzstan will still let it ship military cargo as it did before, a senior U.S. official told AFP on June 25.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said that despite reports to the contrary, the U.S. air base at Manas would continue to be used to send military cargo to Afghanistan.
"It still will allow us to transit the kinds of cargo with logistical support and personnel that we need," he told AFP on the sidelines of a NATO regional security summit being held in Kazakhstan's capital Astana.
"It's a broad umbrella and it includes what we have been doing under the previous agreement."
Kyrgyzstan - an impoverished Central Asian state - changed course this week after ordering the U.S. base to close in February, a decision that would have been a blow to U.S. efforts in Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban.
Under the agreement, which was ratified by the Kyrgyz parliament June 23, Washington will more than triple the rent it pays for the base as part of a financial compensation package worth about $177 million.
Kyrgyzstan had long complained that the rent it was receiving for the base was too low.
The key functions of the Manas Air Base are the ferrying of tens of thousands of troops in and out of Afghanistan each year and the hosting of planes used for the mid-air refueling of combat aircraft.
Under the new agreement, the U.S. official said, those operations would continue, effectively putting to rest months of diplomatic wrangling as Washington sought to firm up its Afghan supply routes.
A majority of 75 lawmakers in the 90-member Kyrgyz parliament voted to let the U.S. maintain a "transit center" at the air base, which sits just outside the capital Bishkek.
None voted against the agreement, which was signed by U.S. and Kyrgyz officials earlier this week.
Since the agreement was announced, Kyrgyz officials have publicly insisted that it amounts to a base closure and that from now on Manas will only be used for the transit of "non-military" goods.
"This is no longer a military airbase, the coalition soldiers must leave now. The dismantling of the base infrastructure can begin," said Kabai Karabekov, a lawmaker from the country's ruling Ak Zhol party.
"This is nothing more than a corridor for transit," he added, speaking after Thursday's ratification vote.
But despite Karabekov's comments about evicting soldiers, the agreement allows U.S. personnel to remain and Kyrgyz officials have said they will be permitted to carry weapons.
And in fact, the agreement places no restrictions on what U.S. forces may ship through it.
The U.S. government and its personnel may bring "any form of personal property, equipment, provisions, materials, technology" into and out of Kyrgyzstan, according to the text ratified by parliament.
Moreover, U.S. flights into and out of Manas may not by be searched by Kyrgyz authorities, the agreement says.
Kyrgyzstan announced that it would evict the U.S. air base in February, on the same day that Moscow promised more than two billion dollars in loans and aid to the ex-Soviet republic.
Moscow has long complained about the presence of U.S. military bases in Central Asia, which it says lays within what President Dmitry Medvedev has called Russia's privileged sphere of influence.

Kyrgyz, Russian leaders to discuss fate of US base: source

Bishkek (AFP) June 15, 2009: The presidents of Kyrgyzstan and Russia will discuss the future of a key US airbase at a meeting on Sunday in Moscow, a source in the Kyrgyz government told AFP.
Kyrgyzstan has ordered US forces to quit the Manas airbase, which is used to support operations in Afghanistan, by August 18 in a decision that was widely seen as having been made under Russian pressure.
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will discuss the future of the US presence when they meet on the sidelines of a regional summit in Moscow on Sunday, the Kyrgyz government source said.
"It is expected that during the bilateral meeting there will be discussion of the continued presence at the Bishkek airport of the US military base," the source told AFP ahead of the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Moscow denies playing any role in Kyrgyzstan's decision to close the base, although Bakiyev announced the decision in Moscow in February the same day that Russia unveiled a huge aid package to the impoverished Central Asian country.
Bakiyev is expected in Moscow on Sunday for a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a regional security body consisting of Russia and six other former Soviet republics.
The Kyrgyz leader is also expected to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. Karzai recently appealed to Bakiyev to allow the US base to remain open.
Located outside the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, Manas airbase is used to ferry tens of thousands of troops in and out of Afghanistan each year.
The loss of Manas would deal a major blow to coalition military efforts in Afghanistan at a time when US President Barack Obama has pledged to boost the campaign there against the Islamist militants of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.