October 1, 2008:The U.S. Air Force and Army received the
first of 78 Italian C-27J two engine transports they have ordered. The two
services will operate these transports jointly, The C-27J replaces elderly
C-23s, and thus provide more small transports for delivering cargo in tight spaces.
The C-27J (a joint U.S./Italian upgrade of the Italian G-222) is as 28 ton
aircraft that can carry nine tons for up to 2,500 kilometers and land on
smaller airfields than the C-130 can handle. The U.S. Air Force bought ten
C-27As in the 1990s, but took them out of service because it was cheaper to
deliver stuff via the larger C-130. However, the C-27Jis a favorite with many other air forces, and
draws on technology from the C-130J program(using the same engines, propellers and electronic items). The C-27Js
will cost about $30 million each, and much of the work will be done in the
United States, although the aircraft will be assembled in Italy. The second one
will be delivered before the end of the year.
The army and air force worked fast on
this deal, coming to an agreement on the C-27J less than two years ago.Three years ago, the U.S. Army and Air Force
agreed to replace the C-23 two engine transports the U.S. Army National Guard
operates, with 145 new aircraft of approximately the same capability. The air
force would get about half these aircraft, and the army the rest. But both
services would establish joint maintenance and support facilities, in order to
keep the costs down. The current plan calls for as many as 207 C-27Js over the
next ten years. The first one was delivered on time and on budget. The air
force is taking its ten older C-27s and using them to experiment with more new
uses (like as a gunship).
According to half a century of agreements and
Pentagon turf battles, the army should not be able to operate two engine
transports. But because of a special deal, forced on the military by Congress,
the Army National Guard is allowed to operate 44two engine C-23s (a freight version of the
British Shorts 330 passenger airliner). The 12 ton C-23 can carry up to 3.5
tons of cargo, or up to 30 troops. But the C-23s are twenty years old, and
efforts to get a replacement, especially a larger and more numerous
replacement, initially ran into air force opposition. After all, the air force
has 500, 75 ton, C-130s. But in Iraq, the army C-23s have proved invaluable in
getting priority army cargoes where they are needed, often to places the C-130
could not reach. With a war going on, the army has lots of recent evidence of
how difficult it is for army commanders to get a C-130 for some urgent mission.
The army originally asked for 128 C-23 replacements, but the air force
protested, and the current deal was worked out.
There were several aircraft competing for this
contract, including the CN-235, C-295 and C-27J, along with the current the
navy C-2. What all these aircraft had in common was greater capacity (about
half the C-130s 20 ton load), and the ability to fly higher than the C-23s
20,000 foot maximum altitude (which prevents it from being used in
Afghanistan). Now the air force will not only operate these two engine
transports, but will tolerate the army owning about sixty of them as well. All
because there's a war going on, and wars are great for quickly settling
peacetime squabbles that seem to never end.