AC-130 Replacement Contemplated

After having been excoriated for saying that civil designs such as
those envisioned for the MC2A and ACS have no business over the
battlefield, this article gives me a bit of gratification:

USAF Plans Serious Look At Replacing Special Ops Aircraft
By Marc Selinger
February 6, 2004

The U.S. Air Force plans to start taking a serious look at potential
replacements for several C-130 variants used by its special operations
forces, a service representative said Feb. 5.

Maj. Gen. John Dorris said the Bush Administration's fiscal 2005
budget request, submitted to Congress Feb. 2, contains "seed money" to
develop concepts for an "MX" aircraft, which would replace the
MC-130E/H airdrop/transport aircraft, and an "AX" which would replace
the AC-130 gunship. The analysis could take about two years.

With surface-to-air threats becoming increasingly sophisticated, the
Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) believes it will need to
begin fielding the new aircraft in about 2015 as a replacement for its
aging Lockheed Martin C-130 variants, Dorris said. He spoke to
reporters after speaking at a special operations conference sponsored
by the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA).

"After 2015, the ability of the C-130 as it's currently configured,
even with enhancements, is not going to be able to go into a lot of
the airspace that it needs to go into," he said.

The MX is envisioned as a long-range aircraft that is "able to do the
mission in one period of darkness," Dorris said. The latest thinking
for the AX is that it would be a "mothership that sends out sensors."
The sensors would then report back to the mothership, which would send
out "lethal and/or non-lethal projectiles," possibly small, guided
missiles.

A new aerial refueling capability will also be needed by AFSOC but
probably later than 2015, Dorris said.

To address AFSOC's tanker shortfall in the interim, about 27 MC-130H
Combat Talon IIs are being modified to be capable of refueling. That
work will be completed by about 2007. AFSOC's MC-130E Combat Talon Is
already can perform the tanker mission.

"sid" wrote in message
m...
After having been excoriated for saying that civil designs such as
those envisioned for the MC2A and ACS have no business over the
battlefield, this article gives me a bit of gratification:

There is quite a gulf between the kind of "battlefield" (or more
specifically "battle environment") that the special operations aircraft have
to operate in and that which the E-10 will be expected to survive. So I am
not really sure what your point here is...?

Brooks


USAF Plans Serious Look At Replacing Special Ops Aircraft
By Marc Selinger
February 6, 2004

snip

Even though they say the C-130 isn't going to be capable, all the plans I've
seen for the AX and MX aircraft are based on a four engine turboprop design
that sure looks like a C-130J.
--
Les
F-4C(WW),D,E,G(WW)/AC-130A/MC-130E EWO (ret)

"sid" wrote in message
m...
USAF Plans Serious Look At Replacing Special Ops Aircraft

Yes! Finally, the AC-5 will get its day!

Les Matheson wrote:
Even though they say the C-130 isn't going to be capable, all the
plans I've seen for the AX and MX aircraft are based on a four engine
turboprop design that sure looks like a C-130J.



Boeing has mentioned a tilt-wing design they call the Advanced Theater
Transport (aka Super Frog) that sure sounds like it fits the MX mission
description. Doesn't look all that much like a C-130J.

http://www.boeing.com/phantom/att.html

I wasn't able to find anything on Lockheed's ideas (MX is a hard term to
search on, even with modifiers)
--
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"If brave men and women never died, there would be nothing
special about bravery." -- Andy Rooney (attributed)

Boeing has mentioned a tilt-wing design they call the Advanced Theater
Transport (aka Super Frog) that sure sounds like it fits the MX mission
description. Doesn't look all that much like a C-130J.

http://www.boeing.com/phantom/att.html

Hmm...no vert stab and rudder. Maybe the Navy will want some to
replace the C-2 Greyhound? If the wingspan isn't too great, they
might be able to put this on an aircraft carrier's deck elevator if
they have to strike it below; I think that was one of the issues with
using a C-130 for COD.

Bill McClain wrote:

Boeing has mentioned a tilt-wing design they call the Advanced Theater
Transport (aka Super Frog) that sure sounds like it fits the MX mission
description. Doesn't look all that much like a C-130J.

http://www.boeing.com/phantom/att.html

Hmm...no vert stab and rudder.

is it just me, or does the ATT bear a strong resemblance to the
German Me 323 Gigant ?

John wrote:
is it just me, or does the ATT bear a strong resemblance to the
German Me 323 Gigant ?

Well ... it's just you ;-). Other than both being large transport aircraft,
I fail to see any commonality.

But it's possible that other individuals on r.a.m. will come forward and
explain that _every_ modern airlifter owes _a lot_ to German wartime
designs ;-)!

SCNR
Andreas

"John" wrote in message
...
Bill McClain wrote:

Boeing has mentioned a tilt-wing design they call the Advanced Theater
Transport (aka Super Frog) that sure sounds like it fits the MX
mission
description. Doesn't look all that much like a C-130J.

http://www.boeing.com/phantom/att.html

Hmm...no vert stab and rudder.

is it just me, or does the ATT bear a strong resemblance to the
German Me 323 Gigant ?

The Gigant also came in a gunship configuration, so that would cover the AX
mission as well.

Andreas Parsch wrote:

John wrote:
is it just me, or does the ATT bear a strong resemblance to the
German Me 323 Gigant ?

Well ... it's just you ;-). Other than both being large transport aircraft,
I fail to see any commonality.

But it's possible that other individuals on r.a.m. will come forward and
explain that _every_ modern airlifter owes _a lot_ to German wartime
designs ;-)!

SCNR
Andreas

I was referring to the sketches at the bottom on the Boeing webpage.
the multiwheel layout, the blunt bulbous shape .

http://www.boeing.com/phantom/att.html

FWIW: I spent many hours inside several variants of trash haulers
so I find them to be a fine aircraft, enough so, that I have
left
lot of them in mid-flight.. Airborne ;-) Herc's are
beautiful !