John W Stone

C-17: An Attempt at Increased Airlift Versatility John W Stone

Publisher Marketing: The Airlift Master Plan was developed as a guide for achieving long-term military airlift objectives. The cornerstone of the plan is the development and acquisition of the C-17. Although the C-17's 'direct-delivery' concept is new, the quest for expanded aircraft versatility has been continually pursued in previous airlift aircraft development programs. Thus the C-17 is not the first aircraft that has attempted to combine the traditionally separate roles of intertheater and intratheater airlift. The most recent attempt at developing an aircraft capable of meeting both strategic and tactical requirements resulted in the C-5A. The C-5A failed to achieve the operational versatility predicted by its proponents and that failure has given rise to serious questions in regards to the C-17's probability of success in realizing its expanded airlift goals. A comparison of the C-5A and C-17 programs revealed the differences in concept formulation, design and acquisition strategy which will allow the C-17 to achieve its operational goals. The study further concludes that the 'direct-delivery' concept is a valid airlift objective and current technology permits the development of an aircraft with the performance capabilities necessary to fulfill that objective.