Everything about C-27j Spartan totally explained
The
Alenia C-27J Spartan is a medium-sized military transport aircraft. The C-27J is an advanced derivative of the company's
G.222 (C-27A Spartan in US service), with the engines and systems of the
Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules. The aircraft was selected as the Joint Cargo Aircraft for the United States military.
Design and development
In
1997,
Alenia and
Lockheed Martin formed Lockheed Martin Alenia Tactical Transport Systems (LMATTS) for the development of an advanced version of the G.222 with advanced avionics, a
glass cockpit and new engines, the same
Rolls-Royce AE 2100s that power the
C-130J Super Hercules. The LMATTS joint venture was later dissolved when Lockheed Martin chose to offer the C-130J as a contender in the same U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) competition in which the C-27J was competing. Alenia Aeronautica then paired with
L-3 Communications to form the Global Military Aircraft Systems (GMAS) joint venture to market the C-27J. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems later joined Alenia and L-3 Communications as a GMAS team member.
The C-27J has a 35% increase in range and a 30% increase in service ceiling over the original G.222. The
Italian Air Force,
Hellenic Air Force,
Bulgarian Air Force,
Romanian Air Force,
United States Army and the
United States Air Force have ordered the C-27J. Alenia is offering
Canada the C-27J as a
CC-115 Buffalo replacement. Lithuania ordered the C-27J as
Antonov An-26 replacement.
The GMAS team promoted the C-27J in the U.S. Army and Air Force's Joint Cargo Aircraft competition against Raytheon and EADS North America's
C-295. Both the U.S. Army and Air Force JCA orders combined are expected to top 100 aircraft. The JCA will eventually replace the existing
C-23 Sherpa,
C-12 Huron and
C-26 Metroliners.
The C-27J had completed the
U.S. Department of Defense's Early User Survey evaluations by November 2006, flying 26 hours and surpassing all the JCA program requirements. The GMAS team also announced that the C-27J will be assembled at a facility at
Cecil Field,
Duval County, Florida. While the final selection of the JCA was expected to be announced in March 2007, the decision came on
13 June 2007, when the Pentagon selected the C-27J as its Joint Cargo Aircraft.
On
22 June 2007, Raytheon formally protested the award of the JCA contract to the Alenia C-27J. On
27 September 2007, the GAO announced that it had denied Raytheon’s protest, thereby allowing the Pentagon to go ahead with the C-27J procurement. Prior to Raytheon's protest, the first C-27J aircraft were to begin delivery to the joint U.S. Army-Air Force test and training program in June 2008.
The C-27J was being considered as a sole-source contract by the Government of Canada as a future replacement for its current search and rescue airfleet, the contract being worth approximately $3 billion CDN as of January 2007.
Romania ordered seven C-27Js for delivery from 2008 to replace
Antonov An-24 and An-26 aircraft, beating the
EADS CASA C-295 However, the order was blocked by the government in February 2007 upon a legal challenge filed by EADS.. In June 2007, the order was confirmed again when the Romanian court rejected EADS' complaint. The Romanian government officially signed a contract for the delivery of seven C-27Js on
December 7,
2007.
The C-27J is a probable contender for a
Royal Australian Air Force requirement for 12 aircraft to replace its aging
DHC-4 Caribou by 2010, and possibly more if the RAAF decides not to replace all its
C-130H Hercules transports.
On
November 13,
2007, the first C-27J was delivered to the Bulgarian Air Force. Currently orders stand at Italy (12), Greece (12 + 3 options), Bulgaria (5), Lithuania (3) Romania (7), and United States (78).
Operators
