ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga., 16 Jan. 2011.avionics designers at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Marietta, Ga., will upgrade the avionics in 50 U.S. Air Force C-5 Galaxy cargo jets with new processors and software under terms of a $19.4 million contract awarded Wednesday. The program is part of the C-5 Block Upgrade Program 01 to standardize recent C-5 avionics upgrades on one architecture.
The C-5 Block Upgrade Program 01 calls for Lockheed Martin to migrate the two-core processing module and software in C-5 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) aircraft versions to the three-core processing module and software used in the C-5 Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program (RERP).
Awarding the contract were officials of the Air Force Warner Robins Air Logistics Center at Robins Air Force Base, Ga.
The Air Force and Lockheed Martin in recent years have upgraded the 111 aircraft in the nation's C-5 fleet in two phases. The first phase involved the AMP and its two-core processor upgrade, and the second was the RERP with its three-core processor upgrade. This approach, unfortunately, created two C-5 configurations with its resulting difficulties in support, maintenance, and upgrades, Air Force officials say.
The C-5 Block Upgrade Program 01 seeks to reconcile differences in the C-5 AMP and RERP avionics processors and software in a common configuration. The C-5 has switched to an avionics-intensive and software-dependent platform with the AMP and RERP upgrades, and Air Force officials want to move to a common hardware computer processing subsystem for both configurations.
Building a common avionics configuration for all C-5 aircraft will help the Air Force manage C-5 avionics efficiently through the aircraft's anticipated lifetime through 2040, officials say. Settling on one avionics configuration will result in reduced sustainment costs, reduced risk on future software upgrades, and a smaller logistic footprint.
For more information contact the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. online at www.lockheedmartin.com/aeronautics, or the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center at www.robins.af.mil.
