Alenia C-27J Wins Australian Airlift Contest

It’s been a long time coming but at last we know what the incomparable Caribou replacement will be.

And I heartily approve, believing from the word go that the Spartan would be the right choice.

But it still can’t do what the ‘bou ‘bou would do as the first aircrew to try and land it on an unprepared rising strip in the3 New Guinea Highlands will discover!

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) chose the Alenia C-27J Spartan to replace a fleet of 14 DHC-4 Caribou STOL airlifters that have already been retired. The 10-aircraft deal will be conducted via the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) system, with L-3 acting as the prime contractor. Alenia and L-3 formed a partnership to sell the C-27J to the U.S. armed forces. The RAAF also evaluated the EADS CN-295 for the Air 8000 requirement.

The contract is worth about $1 billion, including support equipment and several years of training and logistics support. According to the Pentagon’s notice of potential sale, the aircraft will be equipped with a full U.S.-made electronic warfare suite. The notice added that the C-27Js will also help replace 12 C-130H airlifters that the RAAF plans to retire. The first C-27J will be delivered in 2015, with initial operating capability to follow by the end of 2016.

Alenia said that the aircraft will be new-build, thereby safeguarding the workforce in Italy. There had been speculation that the RAAF would be offered C-27Js being built for, or already flying with, the U.S. Air Force. That service decided last January to withdraw its fleet of C-27Js as a budget-cutting measure, having already received 13 of a planned total of 38. The decision has been challenged in Congress, and might be overturned.

May 11, 2012, 2:03 PM

Alenia C-27J Wins Australian Airlift Contest
Chris Pocock
Fri, 11 May 2012 15:10:00 GMT

Aussies Steal a March on the USAF

While the USAF,Office of Procurement and vested aerospace interests continue to squabble over the specification and contract for the KC-X, the replacement tanker for the venerable KC-135, the RAAF is set to take delivery of its first A330MRTT tanker/transport, based on the Airbus A330, in the next few weeks. This aircraft is also on order for the RAF and will probably become the standard Western “full fat” tanker in the years to come.
The importance of the KC-X programme for the US’s global reach cannot be overestimated and is possibly the single most important USAF programme for a generation.  So it is perplexing that the Yanks can’t get their act together.  I am a great admirer of US kit and ways of doing things but sometimes they border on the pathetic.

The Flight of the Turkey

Well it's finally happened!  It flies!!  But will it do the things we want it to and will it be good value for money?   More importantly how will we we pay for it?
And at the present rate of progress it should reach IOC about 2024.
(Article from FlightGlobal.com)
PICTURES: Airbus celebrates as A400M gets airborne: "The A400M took off on its first test flight at 10:15 local time from San Pablo airport in Spain ..."

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Airbus confirms A400M first flight this Friday

Almost there!  I've started holding my breath in eager anticipation.  Never in the field of aircraft development has so little taken so long.  As I have blogged before a hi-lo mix of C-17s and C-130Js would be better and cheaper. This is a purely political aircraft and it's now almost too late to save the taxpayer humungous sums of money.  Do you realise that if this aircraft didn't exist we could buy 67,983 IED-proof armoured vehicles and 6 million sets of body armour and put them to good use saving lives?  (Actually I made up the numbers for effect but I'm sure you get the point).

Airbus confirms A400M first flight this Friday: "Airbus Military has confirmed that its A400M transport is scheduled to make its first flight on 11 December, with aircraft MSN001 due to lift off from San..."

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