"Lockheed Revives an Old Idea for New Carrier Cargo Plane" Topic

"The Northrop Grumman C-2A has been a familiar sight aboard US aircraft carriers for decades, shuttling people and cargo from ship to shore in the carrier-on-board-delivery (COD) role. But the venerable aircraft are wearing out, and an unusually intense competition between Northrop Grumman and Bell Boeing already has garnered attention, even though the program to buy 35 replacement aircraft is not expected to officially begin until next year at the earliest.

Now, a third player has entered the COD fray, with Lockheed Martin offering refurbished and remanufactured versions of its S-3 Viking antisubmarine aircraft, nearly all of which were retired by early 2009. Ninety-one of the aircraft remain in storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.

"Those aircraft still have quite a bit of life on them, having flown an average of 9,000 hours" said Jeff Cramer, Lockheed's COD program manager…"

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Amicalement
Armand

Cheaper, bigger, and greater range. What's the catch ?

They don't cost enough…

OLD SCHOOL !!!

Old School is good! (smile).

Amicalement
Armand

I am oddly confused as to why the S3 didn't get a cargo-hauler modification back when, but I think that a V22 with a stretched fuselage to handle an entire F414 engine would be the ideal hauler.

Brand-new airframe, but not significantly different from any currently in service. Lots of parts in common with the MV22, maybe even engines. If there are any constant-section frames in the V22, it's essentially adding another ~5ft or so forward of the wings, and another 5 ft aft of the wings. Well, either that or changing the shape of the rear fuselage to more like the C2 Greyhound, but you'd still need to stretch the forward fuselage to keep the center of gravity in place.

Assuming no budget issues, I'd abuse an An72, with the engines mounted just above (or maybe half-embedded inside) the wings. Put some nice CF56s on there for oomph and fuel economy, and I'd use the older 737 "squashed circle" inlets. IIRC, a CF56 is more or less an F414 without the afterburner section and with a big honking fan on the front, so it's not really a big change for the engine mechanics.

Not sure about a V22 as a COD bird. Besides the payload problem, I know it doesn't have the range needed. And V/STOL is overkill for that mission. As for a S3 variant; same question about payload. The C2 is a big hauler (20k lbs), the C3 comes in at 10k lbs. Face it, the best replacement for the C2 may well be another C2…

The V22 can haul 20klbs 900nautical miles ( link ), while the C2 hauls only 10klbs but 1300nautical miles ( link ).

I wonder if hauling an extra 10klbs of fuel (~1400gal, so 4x 375gal drop tanks) and 10klbs of cargo would give an Osprey a 1300nm range? Might have to use some big honking external fuel tanks, though.

Also, using Ospreys as cargo haulers means that they can deliver big cargo to any ship with a helo deck. Even the new MH60S can only carry 9klbs slung, while a V22 can sling 15klbs.

But again, the real disadvantage to the V22 is the short cargo bay, which would likely reduce the lift capabilities if the Osprey COD didn't get an engine-power upgrade.

Lion, there was an S-3 COD bird- the US-3A. Only four were built, for some reason or another.

Probably because they already had the C2. No need reinventing the wheel..

Yeah, but if the S3 airframe had better gas mileage, I'd have expected it to pull antisub, cargo, and AWACS duties. Well, with some moderately-significant mods to the airframe for the various roles.

Oh, wait. It's tough to get Naval Aviators to let go of the fine products of the "Grumman Iron Works"!