C-5M Super Galaxy: The US Air Force’s Mammoth Transport for Helicopters

As the world's “gendarme”, the United States has the capacity to intervene everywhere on the globe. Land, airborne and sea forces, the country dominates other countries with their heads and shoulders. And to be able to transport equipment anywhere, the country of Uncle Sam can count on devices with incredible characteristics, like Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxythe largest aircraft in the US Air Force, the American air force.

Article initially published in November 2024

An old plane

Efficiency does not necessarily hold in the novelty of a device. And the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a perfect example. Indeed, the first version of the aircraft came out of Lockheed's hangars in 1968 to make the very first flight in its history. Two years later, the world's largest military aircraft officially entered service.

Inevitably, the 1968 C-5 Galaxy is no longer the same as today. It has been modified to improve it or make it viable for other uses than those related to the army. In fact, since its first start -up, there are four different versions of the device:

• THE C-5A (1968-1973) which was produced in 81 copies
• THE C-5B (1986-1989) in 50 copies
• THE C-5Ca modified version of the C-5B to NASA for the transport of satellites which was produced in 2 copies
• THE C-5M Super Galaxy (1998-), a modified version of the C-5B and C5-C which saw its engines and its planeic (the electronic equipment of an aircraft) be modernized

The extraordinary capacities of C-5M Super Galaxy

From such a plane, we necessarily expect a lot. Allowing the American army to make deployments all over the world, the C-5M Super Galaxy can take a phenomenal quantity of equipment, materials and/or vehicles.

Let's take a look at his technical sheet which allows him not to go unnoticed on the Tarmacs of the US Air Force:

• Length: 75.53m
• Large: 67.91m
• Height: 19.84m
• Ray of action: 13,742 km
• Max speed: 855 km/h
• Propulsion: 4 x General Electric TF-39
• Empty weight: 153 tonnes
• Weight with armament: 349 tonnes
• Maximum weight: 450 tonnes
• Alard surface: 576m2
• Max altitude: 10.9 km

In short, it is a celestial monster that can transport itself:

• Tanks (M1 Abrams) or armored vehicles (M2 Bradley)
• or combat helicopters (Apache / Black Hawk) and heavy transport (CH-47 Chinook)

And for science fiction fans, mention of the device is mentioned in the series Stargate SG-1 Because it is the only device capable of being able to transport the famous stars door.

Suffice to say, that to transport land or air vehicles, the C-5M Super Galaxy Make the business wide and that it therefore has the ability to be used to refuel the troops present in the world in very large quantities thanks to its radius of action which is larger than the diameter of the earth (12,756 km).

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A civil version of the abandoned device

When a technology does the army, why not integrate it into civilian life? As a military cargo cargo, the C-5M Super Galaxy,, at least in its basic version, almost had its version “airliner” and “civilian cargo”.

Indeed, named L-500, he was in Lockheed's plans and could have had the capacity to transport no less than 1000 passengers. However, the year 1968 marked the advent of a legendary airliner: the Boeing 747. Cheaper to produce and maintain, it will be acclaimed, despite a marked interest in L-500.

This is how Lockheed will quickly abandon the idea of ​​making C-5 Galaxy, an airliner and will focus on its military use.

Source: Lockheed Martin / Aircraftsmilitaires.net / Aerocontact