Transport aircraft morphing: the planning switch from a short central European war to protracted out-of-area operations has raised logistic needs. Aside from requiring increased range, the aircraft to be purchased from now on will have to accommodate larger and heavier ground vehicles.

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Transport aircraft

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Transport aircraft morphing: the planning switch from a short central European war to protracted out-of-area operations has raised logistic needs. Aside from requiring increased range, the aircraft to be purchased from now on will have to accommodate larger and heavier ground vehicles.

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European armed forces will participate (whether under Nato, United Nations or European Union auspices) not only in peace-enforcing/keeping actions, but also in disaster-relief operations. Together with others, they represent a substantial potential market for both long-range and intra-theatre transport aircraft.

Disregarding their cost, military transport aircraft are extremely efficient at moving dense loads such as armoured fighting vehicles, but generally cannot exploit their maximum payload when deploying troops, light ground vehicles and helicopters.

The Boeing C-17, with a payload capacity of 77.3 tonnes (for a 2.25G load factor) can accommodate three Alvis Warriors (each 24 tonnes fully loaded), but only 154 troops or 13 Land Rover Defenders (1.8 tonnes each). It can take only a single Boeing CH-47 Chinook (twelve tonnes empty), or three of the same company's AH-64 Apaches (5.4 tonnes each).

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