ramp, monitor the cargo compartment and all its systems, and activate a variety of cargo winch, roller, latching, and release mechanisms. Also located in the loadmaster’s station is a modified laptop computer, which provides direct access to the C-17’s data network. The crews use it for everything from loading flight plans to downloading maintenance data for the technicians back at the hangers. One of the most important of these tasks is load planning, which involves calculating the weight and balance of the aircraft and personnel /cargo load, so that the bird is safe to fly.
Aft of the flight deck is the fully pressurized cargo compartment. The “loadable volume” is 85.2 feet/25.9 meters long, 18 feet/5.5 meters wide, and 12.3 ft/3.75 m high at the lowest point under the wing carry-through box. The aft end of the fuselage is dominated by the cargo ramp and door, which is similar in design to that of the Hercules. The hydraulic-powered ramp is designed to handle the weight of a heavy tank, so there is no problem loading up to 40,000 lb/18,143 kg of cargo and vehicles on its broad surface. When the long cargo door pulls up inside the aircraft as the ramp is lowered, the cargo floor is approximately 5.3 feet/1.6 meters above the ground. This gives the ramp a gentle 9° slope when it is lowered, which makes loading of bulky cargo and vehicles much easier than on other heavy transports.
Just forward of the ramp are paratroops’ jump doors on each side of the fuselage. Like the C-130, the doors pull in and slide up, and at the same time a perforated deflector deploys outboard to reduce the blast of air experienced by exiting paratroops. A standard airdrop load is 102 paratroops with equipment, though up to twice that many can be accommodated if necessary.
There are countless load plans that detail various arrangements of vehicles and cargo, with specific data on tie-down points, and critical aircraft center-of-gravity calculations. For example, the C-17 can carry two rows of 5- ton trucks or HMMWVs, including two right on the ramp. Of course, there also is room in capacity for the heavy iron: things like M1A2 main battle tanks, 60-ton cargo loaders, and even small DSRV rescue submarines. Each cargo tie-down ring is stressed to hold 25,000 lb/11,340 kg, and the floor locks are automated so that they can be released from the loadmasters.
The C-17 is also equipped to be a flying ambulance. When rigged for medical evacuation, the cargo compartment can hold forty-eight litter patients plus medical attendants, and is fully plumbed with oxygen so that each patient has a mask if required.
Other load/personnel mixes include loading the center row with cargo pallets or vehicles to be dropped into a DZ first, then paratroopers along the sides. There also are three emergency escape hatches in the top of the cargo compartment, which can be used in the event of a water landing.
All of these features make the C-17A the most capable, versatile, and survivable cargo aircraft ever built. While the Globemaster has had a torturous and expensive gestation, it is rapidly maturing and, I personally believe, worth the high price that the American taxpayers have paid for it. Perhaps most important of all, though, it fills the strategic airlift shortfall that was first projected in the late 1970s at the start of the C–X program. If the full 12 °C- 17’s that are currently contracted are ultimately built, they will replace retiring C-141s in all active airlift squadrons by the end of the first decade of the 21st century.
By that time, there will likely be orders for further production lots of the Globemaster, though. Remember that the original C–X requirement projected an additional ninety aircraft to replace the C-5 fleet, which will be over three decades old by then. There also will be the matter of replacing other types of transport aircraft by that time. For example, the aging USAF force of KC-135s will be almost ready to retire by then, and there is strong support to decrease the number of different airframes within the transport force. A recent GAO study suggests that tanker and electronic support versions of the C-17 would be an excellent value, and are likely to be built after the initial run of cargo versions.
It would not be surprising if there are C-17s still flying in 2050 or even later in the next century, hauling the load in a world we can scarcely imagine. Douglas even is working on a commercial version of the Globemaster, the MD-17, which would be used to compete on the worldwide outsized cargo transport market that is currently dominated by the Russians. This is truly a bird that has come a long way from the dark days of 1989! However you view this big bird, though, it has survived battles that would have killed other aircraft long ago.
1st Brigade/82nd Airbone: A Guided Tour of an Airborne Task Force
It had been a long day of talking in the Presidential Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on September 18th, 1994. All day, a trio of envoys from the United States had been trying to defuse a long-simmering dispute over the transition to a democratic government in the bankrupt little island nation. The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti was on the brink of invasion if someone did not back off soon. The U.S. delegation, led by former President Jimmy Carter, then-Senator Sam Nunn, and retired General Colin Powell, had been trying to reason with the leadership of the military junta that had taken over the tiny nation many months earlier. The Haitian military leaders had taken this action after Haiti’s first democratic election in history had provided them with a government that they could not tolerate. Unfortunately, this coup had outraged the democratic nations in the hemisphere, with the United States at the top of the list.
What had followed was one of the more miserable exhibitions of international statecraft in U.S. history. Over two separate Administrations, the American response seemed tepid and downright timid at times. The situation became positively humiliating in the fall of 1993 when an American amphibious ship, the USS
The exact details of what was said and done that day have never been fully released, but one thing is known. There was no secret that a vast invasion force had been assembled to take Haiti, by force if necessary, to restore the legally elected government of President Jean Betrand Aristide. Then, at the last possible minute, almost too late in fact, General Cedras gave in and agreed to leave peacefully, going into personal exile.
For most Americans, it is enough to know that when the troops of the invasion force arrived the next day, they walked in peacefully, receiving the cheers of a grateful Haitian populace. Or was it that simple? Such coercion had hardly worked against the likes of Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein. They had paid the price for their decisions with demonstrations of American arms that had cost one of them his country and freedom, and the other the ability to freely trade and make war on his neighbors. Perhaps General Cedras had been smart enough to watch CNN and learn a few lessons. Perhaps, but it is also likely that he took the time to listen to a few friendly words of advice from General Powell. Now what, you might well ask, could have been said late that Sunday night to make General Cedras give in? Well, how about: “They are already in the air, the entire division is on the way.”
“They” was the 82nd Airborne Division, and when General Powell said the entire division, he was not kidding. For the first time since the Second World War, nearly the entire 82nd Airborne was in the air with all its equipment. Spread among almost 15 °C-130 Hercules and C-141 Starlifter transport aircraft, all three combat brigades were already on the way to drop zones around Port-au-Prince.[48] The division was set to achieve by force what world opinion and United Nations resolutions could never achieve. Perhaps most of all, General Cedras was given a basic choice of his future. Either retire to a plush existence off the coast of Panama, or
