Lets consider the C-27 as the next carrier on board delivery plane. Radical you say? I say why not! We've conducted tests with the C-130 on board carriers and unless NAVAIR has destroyed those test results then we already know the issues facing us when it comes to making this work.
Consider this.
1. The C-27 is supposedly rated for rough field landings. Modification to make it carrier capable shouldn't be too challenging.
2. Its heavy, but with heavier aircraft arriving on board our carriers everyday, the added capacity that the C-27 brings over the current airplane become readily apparent. We need an airplane that can carry F-35 engines and the current airplane is having difficulty.
3. Its already in the supply chain due to the work that the USAF and Army have done. Just like the X-47B, all we have to do is pick up on the work that others have done and carry it across the goal line.
Yeah, it might seem radical but we've done it before but with much bigger.
I wonder how much heavier it would be with modifications for wing-folding and multiple vertical stabilizers to fit on the hangar deck. It would limit how a carrier could resupply itself if the carrier did not have two or three already on board.
ReplyDeleteIt has a lower top speed but much faster cruise than the C-2 it would replace, with a longer range too. Unfortunately, putting the Spartan's airframe through the redesign grinder would take probably a decade and hurt its performance, too.