C-5 aircraft upgrades to be provided to U.S. Air Force by SwRI
NewsNovember 28, 2023
SAN ANTONIO, Texas. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) won a contract to install monitoring systems on C-5 aircraft under a five-year deal with the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Center for Aircraft Structural Life Extension (CAStLE), the institute announced in a statement.
The project, valued at $4.5 million, involves equipping C-5 aircraft with Loads/Environment Spectra Survey (L/ESS) systems. The C-5, a large military cargo carrier first introduced in 1969, transports large cargo, including other aircraft. The L/ESS system installation aims to capture and analyze usage data for the C-5 fleet, enhancing fleet management and updating maintenance schedules as necessary, the statement reads.
Ongoing monitoring of 20% of the C-5 fleet is essential for assessing the impact on structural health, projecting usage, and evaluating and mitigating any changes in fleet usage, according to the Air Force. SwRI will implement the L/ESS systems on five C-5 aircraft during their regular maintenance at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.
This new system will automatically collect detailed data such as airspeed, altitude, fuel quantity, and flight duration.
