cargo

A cargo plane arriving from Dubai ran off the runway and into the sea while landing at Hong Kong International Airport. Two security workers on the ground were killed, and all four crew members were rescued.

Sikorsky has unveiled a new, fully uncrewed version of the Black Hawk helicopter with a completely transformed front end that swaps out the cockpit for clamshell doors. Depending on how it is configured, what has been dubbed the U-Hawk can move thousands of pounds of outsized cargo internally and slung underneath, deploy uncrewed ground vehicles, and fire dozens of “launched effects” like surveillance and reconnaissance drones and loitering munitions.

A U-Hawk demonstrator, converted from an ex-U.S. Army UH-60L, is on display at the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) main annual conference in Washington, D.C., which opened today and at which TWZ is in attendance. Sikorsky, now a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, also refers to the design as the S-70 Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), with S-70 being the company’s internal model number for H-60 variants.

The U-Hawk leverages the company’s past work on a Pilot Optional Vehicle (OPV) version of the Black Hawk, which has been flying for years, as well as its MATRIX autonomy flight control software. Development of MATRIX first began more than a decade ago and was buoyed early on by support from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) through the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program.

“A lot of our customers said, hey, I need to be able to move things into theater, and I need to be able to move them in mass. And a lot of the drones out there may be able to carry 100 pounds, may be able to carry 500 pounds,” Rich Benton, Sikorsky Vice President and General Manager, told TWZ and other outlets during a press call earlier this month. “We look introspectively, what do we have? Well, we actually have an autonomous Black Hawk today, our OPV, optionally piloted. But why couldn’t we just take the cockpit out of that and make that a UAS?”

“We conceived this idea [the U-Hawk], believe it not, at the last AUSA, talking to some of the folks from the Army and other services,” Igor Cherepinsky, Sikorsky Innovations Director, also told TWZ and other outlets during a separate call ahead of the opening of today’s conference. “We procured the [underlying UH-60L] aircraft towards the beginning of this year.”

It took Sikorsky roughly 10 months to go from “concept to reality,” according to a company press release. The goal is for it to take flight for the first time next year. The U-Hawk has, so far, been an internally funded effort.

The U-Hawk adaptation of the Black Hawk does do much more than simply remove the pilots and offers significantly greater capability than crewed versions for certain missions. The design also features a different hardware backend for the MATRIX autonomy package and a revised fly-by-wire control system compared to the previous OPV Black Hawk, which we will come back to later on.

Still, the most eye-catching features of the new uncrewed version are its new front section and revised internal arrangement.

“We have completely removed the cockpit, the pilot, and also the crew chief stations of the aircraft,” Ramsey Bentley, Sikorsky Advanced Programs Business Development Director, explained while speaking alongside Cherepinsky. “This gives us the entire cabin and cockpit area for either a logistics operation or mission support operations.”

Sikorsky says the U-Hawk will also be able to “self-deploy” out to a range of 1,600 nautical miles and have a total unrefueled endurance of 14 hours. The press release today also says the uncrewed Black Hawk can “carry internal fuel tanks for increased range or extended time on station,” but it is unclear if this is required to meet the stated range and endurance figures, although that seems likely. Increased range while carrying a useful payload still opens up significant new opportunities, especially for operations across the broad expanses of the Pacific, but also elsewhere.

Payload-wise, Sikorsky expects the uncrewed Black Hawk to be able to carry up to 7,000 pounds internally or 9,000 pounds slung underneath, or a mix of both up to a maximum rating of 10,000 pounds. The company says this is roughly in line with the payload capacity, by weight, of a standard crewed UH-60L. For helicopters, in general, the maximum allowable payload on any particular sortie is also heavily dependent on environmental factors like altitude and temperature.

The U-Hawk’s revised configuration gives it approximately 25 percent more physical space inside for cargo and/or other payloads compared to existing UH-60 variants. This is important as payloads often have dimensional restrictions, as well as weight-based ones. Some cargoes that would have been previously slung underneath could be carried internally, which would drastically increase the range at which they could be delivered.

“The payload, I think, is what really distinguishes this from competitors. … So one can start to imagine the missions that that U-Hawk can begin to solve,” Beth Parcella, Sikorsky Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, noted while speaking together with Vice President and General Manager Benton. “Everything from delivering swarms of drones, from launched effects ‘quivers,’ carrying cargo in a contested logistics environment, driving on and off uncrewed ground vehicles, operating in a counter-UAS function, [and] roll-on and roll-off of supplies.”

“So there’s a tremendous amount of flexibility with this aircraft,” she added.

When it comes to “launched effects,” or LEs, this is a catch-all term that the U.S. military currently uses to refer to uncrewed aerial systems that can be fired from other aerial platforms, as well as ones on the ground or at sea. Sikorsky and its parent company, Lockheed Martin, are currently using the Army’s requirements for three tiers of short, medium, and long-range launched effects as a baseline for the development of the launch ‘quivers’ and what gets loaded in them. LEs in all three categories could be configured to perform surveillance and reconnaissance and electronic warfare missions, as well as be employed as loitering munitions or act as decoys.

“What this quiver does is, depending upon the size of the launched effect, it’s able to hold 24 to 50 different launched effects in the back of the aircraft,” Bentley said. “The quiver is actually designed for what would be the Army short-range and medium-range-sized LEs. The long-range [ones] probably ends up going out on the [stub] wing, like you’ve probably seen [in] some other demonstrations.”

Bentley also noted that the quivers will be able to carry mixed loads of different types of LEs at once, including types developed by other companies.

Parcella did not elaborate on the potential “counter-UAS function” for the U-Hawk, but indicated that it could be tied to its launched effects capabilities. The U-Hawk might be able to carry other types of weaponry, as well as electronic warfare systems, that could be employed against hostile drones, as well as other targets.

As noted, general cargo-carrying is also envisioned as a key role for the uncrewed Black Hawk. Sikorsky says the U-Hawk will be able to carry up to four U.S. military-standard Joint Modular Intermodal Containers (JMIC), spread between the main cabin and slung underneath, compared to the two that existing Black Hawk variants can lug around today. It will also be able to carry a single one of the standard ammunition ‘pods’ used in the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), as well as a pair of Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) in their launch canisters, according to today’s press release. The Army operates both the M270 and M142. The Marine Corps has HIMARSs, as well, and is also fielding NSM in a ground-launched configuration.

The U-Hawk’s clamshell doors allow for the loading and unloading of cargo even while the rotors are still turning. There is also a folding ramp to help ease the process, as well as allow for the deployment of UGVs.

All of “this is designed to do direct support of the maneuver commander. So, as the Army is conducting an air assault, you would envision the U-Hawk flying ahead of the soldiers,” Bentley explained. “As the U-Hawk comes into the landing zone area, first it dispenses launched effects out of the sides of the aircraft, out of our launched effects quiver. And then it lands, it disembarks the UGV, and then the aircraft departs. And this is done ahead of any soldiers putting boots on the ground.”

“You’ve probably heard about Gen. [James] Rainey, the AFC [Army Futures Command] commander, talking about metal-on-metal first contact,” Bentley said. “This is Sikorsky focused on that commander’s need, the soldiers’ need, to put these launched effects, UGVs, and UAS in the battle space, ahead of us, putting soldiers in harm’s way.”

The U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps are also both especially interested in using vertical takeoff and landing-capable uncrewed aircraft for logistics missions, including the resupply of forces in higher-threat areas. The Marines are already pursuing a multi-tier family of Aerial Logistics Connector (ALC) platforms, and have started to field drones to meet the lowest-end Tactical Resupply Unmanned Aircraft System (TRUAS) requirement. 

Bentley also said the company envisions U-Hawks performing non-military missions, including supporting wildfire fighting and disaster relief operations. A number of civilian operators already fly crewed H-60 variants in these roles.

Regardless of the missions it is configured for, Sikorsky is designing the U-Hawk to provide all of its capabilities with minimal training and sustainment requirements. Sikorsky says individuals without aviation-specific skill sets can be readily trained to operate the uncrewed Black Hawk via touchscreen tablet-like devices. The MATRIX system has a demonstrated ability to get platforms like the OPV Black Hawk between set waypoints in a highly autonomous manner.

“Upshot of this is that you can operate this aircraft with a minimally trained operator, and a tablet, if that’s what you want. We [are] obviously also providing a way to be integrated into [a] bigger airspace picture, be it civil or military airspace, where one can exercise more control over the aircraft,” Cherepinsky explained. “If you tell it to go from airport A to airport B, for example, and it knows it’s in civil airspace, it will take the right routes, follow the right civil procedures. If it knows it’s a military airspace, it will do what it thinks is right for the military airspace.”

“In some cases, [it] may not be what exactly — what you want. So, we’re providing this level of adjustable autonomy where you can have a local operator on the ground, for example, operating the aircraft as a crane, right, moving around the field, moving things around the field, loading the aircraft,” he added. “You can hand it off to a more central UAS command, where they have a lot more fine detail over … speeds, altitudes, and whatnot. It’s really, really up to our customer how they want to operate these vehicles.”

Sikorsky is also presenting U-Hawk as a very cost-effective option, even compared to what it previously demonstrated with the OPV Black Hawk.

“Our S-70 OPV aircraft has been flying for a number of years,” Cherepinsky said. “It’s optionally piloted. It’s [a] human-rated fly-by-wire system. It’s our autonomy system. It comes at a certain price point.”

He pointed out that many of the systems of the OPV demonstrator utilized available components sourced from existing suppliers rather than ones designed with that aircraft specifically in mind. This included the hardware used to run the MATRIX system, which he described as being more than what Sikorsky necessarily wanted or needed for that application. As he mentioned, the systems also had to meet standards for an aircraft designed to carry humans, which is not something U-Hawk has to take into account at present.

“On the U-Hawk, we actually did a lot more vertical integration,” according to Cherepinsky. “We designed our own vehicle management computers, our actuation, and the price point of the entire system, not just the aircraft, is much, much lower. As an example, our vehicle management computers are 10s of 1000s of dollars, not hundreds, as they are on a human-rated aircraft.”

The current cost proposition for the U-Hawks also includes savings from reusing existing UH-60L airframes. The U.S. Army has been steadily retiring these versions and selling them off as it acquires newer, more capable M variants. The Army had been working to bring some 760 L models up to an improved standard called the UH-60V, but axed plans for further conversions last year as part of a larger shakeup in the service’s aviation priorities. As such, hundreds more UH-60Ls are expected to become available in the coming years. Other older H-60s that could be turned into uncrewed versions might become available as other operators around the world begin upgrading their fleets, as well.

“We certainly can [build all-new U-Hawks]. It all depends on the economics and price point,” Cherepinsky said.

It is worth noting that the U.S. Army is currently envisioning future air assaults, especially in the context of a potential future high-end fight with China in the Pacific, stretching over distances beyond what the U-Hawk could cover. The ongoing war in Ukraine also continues to offer particularly good examples of how growing threat ecosystems are increasingly imposing significant operational limitations on the use of crewed helicopters. The pursuit of launched effects within the Army and elsewhere across the U.S. military directly reflects increasingly more capable and long-range adversary anti-air capabilities. The Army also notably canceled plans to acquire a Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA), which was set to be a crewed helicopter of some kind, last year, citing threat concerns and plans to focus more on uncrewed platforms.

“So, I’ll tell you up front, I can’t be specific on the things we’re doing to address survivability. And survivability has been an issue for aviation, for vertical aviation, for a long time,” Benton said during the previous press call in response to a direct question from this author about what might be in the works to help uncrewed and crewed Black Hawks address growing threats going forward. “We are leveraging the entire power of Lockheed Martin … what is [sic] the technologies that Lockheed Martin has and can bring to bear to provide survivability on those aircraft. Those are the things we’re continuing to look at.”

At the same time, crewed helicopters are not going away, and tradeoffs will have to be made. For many missions, the U-Hawk removes the biggest risk factor in terms of combat losses, a human crew, while also offering a significant boost in some capabilities. The uncrewed Black Hawk also proposes a way to do all of that at a lower cost that also leverages extremely well-established logistics and sustainment chains. This is particularly significant for the U.S. Army, which expects to continue flying H-60s on some level through at least 2070.

U-Hawks could also take over certain missions in lower-threat environments from crewed platforms, presenting the potential for additional operational flexibility and cost benefits. Being able to autonomously move even a few hundred pounds of critical cargo, such as spare parts, between far flung and remote locations separated by many hundreds of miles, without the need for a fully qualified aircrew, could be a boon even in lower threat areas. The fact that it can move much larger loads internally, without the range penalties of sling loading, is an even bigger sell. All this could be done without adding a new type to the Army’s shrinking helicopter fleet and leveraging the H-60/S-70’s global supply chain is also a very attractive factor, as well. Those same attributes underscore the sales potential of the uncrewed Black Hawk to non-military operators, too.

“We’re really excited. And honestly, some of us are thinking, gosh, why didn’t we think about this five years ago?” Parcella said on the press call earlier this month.

Update:

We got a walk-around tour of the U-Hawk on the floor of the Army Association’s symposium, check it out here.

Contact the author: [email protected]

A Colorado company displayed at the Air & Space Force Association’s annual conference this week a model of a new very heavy lift cargo jet it is designing. Though still in its aspirational phase, Radia’s WindRunner concept comes at a time when the future of heavy lift cargo capabilities is in question, including within the U.S. military as it looks to eventually replace its fleet of aging C-5M Galaxy and C-17A Globemaster III transports. Globally, the ability to move very large, outsized loads over long distances by air also has something of an expiration date, without any clear replacement for existing aircraft waiting in the wings. So, while by all accounts Radia’s dream may be a big long shot, it’s certainly worth examining.

The four-engined WindRunner, far bigger in size than either of the two U.S. Air Force airlifters, was originally designed to carry 300-foot-long wind turbine blades. In other words, it originated with the goal of offering a transport solution to commercial customers. However, Radia claims that when it’s built, it could be an attractive airframe for moving tanks, helicopters, collaborative combat aircraft (CCAs) and other large war materiel to austere locations, as well as rocket boosters and other outsized loads.

“As interest grew and development progressed, WindRunner’s unprecedented volume similarly appealed to the defense, aerospace and commercial cargo sectors,” company spokesperson Grace O’Connor told The War Zone.

The C-17A, which first entered service in 1995, has a maximum payload capacity of some 82 tons, according to the official Air Force fact sheet.

The much larger C-5, which has been around since the 1970s, and is now in its enhanced C-5M configuration, can carry up to 140 tons. What’s arguably more important than just the raw weight it can lift, the C-5 can carry far larger items than the C-17.

Capable of being refueled in flight to extend their range, neither this aircraft nor the C-17 is currently in production.

By comparison, Radia states that the 356-foot-long WindRunner, first conceived of in 2016, will be able to deliver 72.6 tons of cargo. However, payload weight only tells a small part of the story, the company suggests.

“Current defense cargo aircraft run out of room before they run out of lift capability,” O’Connor posited. “In other words, military operations cube out on missions before they gross out, making volume the limiting factor. The massive dimensions of today’s military aircraft, modern satellites, missile systems, and mobile hospitals make it challenging to transport mission-ready.“

Instead, many weapons systems have to be disassembled to fit aboard a Galaxy or Globemaster.

Radia claims that WindRunner, with some 270,000 cubic feet of cargo space, delivers seven times the volume of a C-5 and 12 times the volume of a C-17. Among other cargo, Radia says WindRunner can carry six ready-to-fly Chinook C-47 helicopters. The placement of the cockpit in a bulge above the cargo hold offers more vertical space to roll items into its very long hold.

The WindRunner is also claimed to be able to take off and land on 6,000 feet of runway, which is pretty short for such a large plane. One limiting factor, however, may be range. While the C-17 can fly about 2,400 miles with a heavy load without refueling and the C-5 can fly over double that distance with cargo packed in its belly. The WindRunner has a loaded range of just 1,200 miles, according to Radia. So, aerial refueling capability would be a prerequisite for U.S. military service. Still, this may be a worthwhile trade for the ability to easily move very large cargoes while keeping the cheapest aircraft acquisition price possible and tankers already service the C-5M and C-17A fleets heavily for long-distance missions. It may also be possible to extend the giant aircraft’s 261-foot wingspan to increase its range, among other concepts commonly employed to increase an aircraft’s range, such as auxiliary fuel tanks. Radia told us aerial refueling capability would be added for military contracts, but not for the initial tranche of commercial jets

As a scale-model mockup of the WaveRunner was on display on the conference showroom located at the sprawling Gaylord Conference Center at National Harbor, a top Air Force general was in a small meeting room two stories above, talking about the future of the service’s heavy lift.

The U.S. Air Force is still in the early stages of figuring out what it needs for a Next Generation Airlift (NGAL) platform that will replace the C-5s and C-17s. However, the flying branch said it will emphasize greater speed and operational flexibility, as well as the ability to better defend against growing threats when on the ground and in the air.

The commander of AMC, Air Force Gen. John Lamontagne, told reporters, including from The War Zone, that the service currently seeks one aircraft to replace both the Galaxy and Globemaster. Given various budgetary and functional considerations, it is unlikely that a future NGAL would have the same cargo capacity as the Galaxy. You can read more about the tough choices the Air Force faces over its NGAL program in our story here.

Among the NGAL options is an aircraft with a blended wing body, or BWB, configuration. The design could provide increased lifting abilities with large amounts of internal volume, among other advantages. In 2023, the Air Force selected aviation startup JetZero to design and build a full-size demonstrator.

There likely won’t be a replacement aircraft that can match the size of the Galaxy, meaning the Air Force will have to look externally to move its largest cargo. However, there are limited options right now. There are a small number of commercially chartable An-124 Condors, which have roughly similar roll-on, roll-off heavy lift capabilities as the C-5, available today. The existing Soviet-designed Condors won’t last forever. It’s possible that Ukraine could put the Condor back into production in modernized form, but this would be a very large undertaking and it won’t solve the U.S. military’s issue of losing its organic ability to move outsized loads if the single aircraft that will replace the C-17 and C-5 won’t be capable of meeting the latter’s ability to swallow massive cargoes, which seem very unlikely.

It’s worth noting that the world’s largest operational cargo hauling aircraft at the time, the An-225 Mriya, which is an outgrowth of the An-124, was destroyed by Russia at the beginning of its all-out invasion of Ukraine. It served for decades as the heaviest-lifting charter aircraft available, supporting everything from wars to disaster relief operations to moving rail cars and aircraft.

With all this in mind, Radia’s giant cargo hauler could offer the U.S. military a new option to move big loads, if it actually becomes a real aircraft. While this may be more of a niche capability, even if it was offered just on a contracting basis, it would likely be an attractive option for some missions. A militarized version of this aircraft is a far bigger reach, but a small fleet could help fill the gap left by a ‘compromise’ C-5 and C-17 replacement design. The Pentagon has certainly been intrigued with far more exotic heavy lift concepts than this.

Radia claims it is shooting for the first flight of its WindRunner by 2030.

“Radia has raised over $150 million to date and is in discussions to raise additional billions through government support, commercial partnerships, and private capital to complete WindRunner development and production,” O’Connor said when asked how much it will cost to turn the clean sheet design into reality. “Radia has completed concept development and wind tunnel testing and is now preparing for system integration and manufacturing. WindRunner uses largely proven, off-the-shelf systems that are currently certified and flying today. We’ve focused on digital design and analysis, and we are now progressing toward building the full-scale aircraft for certification.”

Radia “has received Letters of Intent (LOIs) from major global customers across wind energy, defense, aerospace, and cargo sectors,” O’Connor added. However, an LOI is not a contract for delivery.

At this point, it is not publicly known where Radia intends to build these jets, if it actually gets the opportunity to do so.

“We are getting closer to publicly announcing our final assembly line location and production capacity,” O’Connor explained.

Radia may not ultimately produce any jets that wear USAF insignias — or any jet at all. However, there appears to be a heavy airlift gap that may form in the coming decades and it may take a mixture of assets, commercial and military, to fill it.

Contact the author: [email protected]

The U.S. Air Force is currently looking toward a single next-generation airlifter to supplant both the C-17A Globemaster III and the C-5M Galaxy, starting in the mid-2040s. The service is still in the early stages of formulating its requirements for a Next Generation Airlift (NGAL) platform, but has already put emphasis on greater speed and operational flexibility, as well as the ability to better defend against growing threats when on the ground and in the air.

Air Force Gen. John Lamontagne, head of Air Mobility Command (AMC), discussed the current state of NGAL with TWZ and others at a roundtable on the sidelines of the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2025 Air, Space, and Cyber Conference yesterday. As of the start of Fiscal Year 2025, the Air Force had 222 C-17As and 52 C-5Ms in its inventory.

The C-17A, which first entered service in 1995, has a top speed of around 520 miles per hour and a maximum payload capacity of some 82 tons, according to the official Air Force fact sheet. The much larger C-5Ms, which started their careers in the 1980s as C-5Bs and Cs, can carry up to 135 tons of cargo and/or personnel at up to around the same speed. Both types do typically cruise a slower speeds. They can also be refueled in flight to extend their range. Neither the C-17 nor the C-5 are currently in production.

As it stands now, NGAL is “basically a two-for-one to replace both the C-17 and the C-5,” Lamontagne said. “Driving that towards the mid-2040 timeline.”

“When I say two-for-one, we’re probably going to procure one aircraft,” he further clarified later on in the roundtable. “We won’t get a C-5 replacement and a C-17 replacement. There’ll be one airplane that does strategic airlift.”

When it comes to what the Air Force wants in that aircraft, the service has been working through what it calls a capabilities-based assessment (CBA) for NGAL.

“That capabilities-based assessment takes a look at what kind of defense systems do we need? What kind of tactical agility do we need? What kind of servicing do we need?” Lamontagne explained. “So we’ll see what that looks like.”

“As far as what we want in the next[-generation airlift] platform, we want agility, we want speed, we want to be able to operate in a higher threat environment,” he added. This includes “countermeasures that are effective against those threats that are coming from increasingly longer ranges.”

The Air Force has previously warned of the likelihood of a threat environment that includes anti-air missiles with ranges up to 1,000 miles by 2050. China, America’s current chief global competitor, has been particularly active in developing and fielding new air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles with ever greater reach. Russia has also been pursuing new capabilities in this regard.

Lamontagne also highlighted the growing threats American airlifters face on the ground, which are magnified by the time it can take to load and unload payloads, as well as refuel. Last year, AMC notably put out a call for options for future defensive systems that could be integrated directly into its cargo planes, along with its aerial refueling tanker fleets, to help shield them from ever-expanding drone threats, as you can read more about here.

“We’re obviously at a lot of risk on the ground, sitting on the ground somewhere,” the head of AMC explained. “So, [we] don’t want to sit on the ground for three hours. If we could refuel in a lot faster timeline than that, not that it takes three hours to refuel a C-17, but, you know, three minutes would be better than 30 minutes.”

“Right now, we know what we need to do and where we need to go,” he added, referring to the development of new defensive capabilities for aircraft across the command more generally. “We’ve got to develop the defensive systems, continue to develop them, and we’re doing a lot of tests and experimentation on that now, so that we can spiral it [out].”

Lamontagne also noted that the kinds of capabilities, in general terms, the Air Force wants for NGAL don’t necessarily “mix really, really well, and, so, what you prioritize and what you cherish will help define where we go” in terms of a future design.

The potential for NGAL to be a ‘system of systems’ rather than a single platform has been raised in the past. There are immediate questions about how a single aircraft would be able to supplant both the C-17 and the C-5, which are very different aircraft in form and function.

For instance, the C-17, despite its size, offers significant short and rough field performance, allowing it to deliver heavy payloads even in the absence of improved runways. The aircraft was designed to be able to bring in combat-ready forces, including tanks and other heavy armor, to landing zones at or at least near the front lines, as well as drop paratroopers into those same areas.

The C-5 can load cargo and personnel from the nose and tail ends, and do so simultaneously. In addition to just being able to carry larger payload volumes overall compared to the C-17, the Galaxy also offers a unique capability within the U.S. military for moving outsized and unusual payloads by air, including satellites and other space-related items.

Lamontagne acknowledged that NGAL could still potentially include multiple different designs, but also highlighted concerns about whether the Air Force “can afford, grandkids, kids, all of them.” The ability of the Air Force to pay for multiple new fleets of next-generation aircraft amid a slew of other modernization priorities, especially in the nuclear deterrence realm, has been repeatedly called into question in recent years, including by the service’s own top leadership.

NGAL is also currently limited to meeting next-generation strategic airlift requirements. Lamontagne said yesterday that the Air Force has at least two other lines of effort, NGAL-Little and Next Generation Intra-theater Airlift (NGIA), geared toward fulfilling future tactical airlift needs. C-130 variants are the service’s current tactical airlift platforms. Strategic airlift is generally described as being intertheater in nature, while tactical airlift is primarily focused on intratheater missions.

Above all else, Lamontagne stressed the importance of the Air Force being able to eventually retire the C-17 and the C-5 on its terms.

“The C-17 and C-5 … served us well for decades, but they’re not going to fly forever, and so we’d like to recapitalize those on our timeline,” he said. “If we look at what happened with the [C-]141 [Starlifter] after the Gulf War, it basically told us when it was done. We’d like to have a plan in place so when the service life starts to erode on the C-17, whether it’s wings, engines, or more, we’ve got a competition already going.”

It is important to remember that NGAL is hardly the first time the Air Force has explored concepts for advanced cargo aircraft, including stealthy designs and ones with vertical takeoff and landing capability. Much of this work over the years has been tied in with plans for next-generation tankers, something the Air Force is again pursuing now through its separate Next Generation Air Refueling System (NGAS) effort. TWZ has been calling attention to the U.S. military’s ever-growing need for more survivable tankers and airlifters for years now.

During yesterday’s roundtable, Lamontagne cited AMC’s role in the deployment of air and ground-based air defense assets to locations across the Middle East on several occasions last year and earlier this year as examples of the critical importance of strategic airlift and the need to modernize those capabilities. Those movements helped bolster the ability of U.S. forces to defend American interests in the region, as well as Israel. They were key to setting the stage for the Operation Midnight Hammer strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran in June. The C-17 fleet has already been under particular strain for some years now due to heavy demand as a result of a succession of major crises.

“Strategic lift is very critical, as you know, and that is the way that we at TRANSCOM usually initiate our most responsive force. We rely heavily on both the C-5 and the C-17, both of which are aging, both are very capable,” Air Force Gen. Randall Reed, head of that command, also told TWZ and others at a separate roundtable yesterday at the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference. “I am grateful to the Air Force for looking at any and all possible ways to invest in weapon system sustainment to make sure that we can continue to fly those for the near and the midterm.”

“It is also important that we start looking at what comes next. The environment is changing. We will need aircraft that have capabilities that we don’t have today, specifically to make sure that we’re connected,” Reed added. “And the Air Force is working real hard to provide that for us.”

Until NGAL is ready, in whatever form it ultimately takes, the C-17, in particular, will continue to be the Air Force’s strategic airlift workhorse. AMC is already in the process of adding new beyond-line-of-sight communications capabilities to those aircraft. As noted, the command has already been exploring new defensive capabilities for all of its fleets, including protecting them with drone wingmen, as well.

“Right now, I don’t think we’ll need to before the 2040s, but we might need to after that,” Gen. Lamontagne said in response to a question about potentially re-engining the C-17 fleet. “If we do a service life extension or something along those lines, we will certainly need to do something along those lines.”

“Right now, I think the C-17s we have, you know, working with the manufacturer, they’re working on improving, you know, both the efficiency and the performance, so getting a little more fuel efficient with the ones that we have, and a little more time on the wing with the ones that we have,” he added. “Right now, I think we’re in a pretty good place.”

Earlier this year, Boeing said it was in the very early stage of talks with at least one potential customer about restarting production of the C-17, or starting to produce a new derivative of that design. The C-17 line was shuttered in 2015.

“There are no current plans to restart the C-17,” Lamontagne said, but acknowledged it is something that has been discussed. “I think one step at a time, capabilities-based assessment, analysis of alternatives, competition.”

“[I’m] hoping, in the near term, next couple of years, few years, I’d say, [to] have another analysis of alternatives, this time on the next generation airlifter, instead of the next generation air refueling system,” he also said during the roundtable.

Overall, the Air Force is still in the early stages of the NGAL effort, but a path forward to a successor to the C-17 and the C-5 is now starting to take greater shape.

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United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reports the vessel is taking on water after being targeted with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades.

A commercial vessel in the Red Sea has come under attack after small boats fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons towards the ship.

According to the organisation United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), the incident took place 94km (51 nautical miles) southwest of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.

“The vessel has been engaged by multiple small vessels who have opened fire with small arms and self-propelled grenades. [The] armed security team have returned fire and situation is ongoing,” said UKMTO, which is run by Britain’s Royal Navy.

The UKMTO said the attack resulted in a fire onboard and the vessel began taking on water Sunday night as its crew prepared to abandon ship.

“Authorities are investigating,” it said, adding later the ship was ablaze after being “struck by unknown projectiles”.

“UKMTO has had confirmation from the Company Security Officer that the vessel is taking on water and crew are preparing to abandon ship,” a statement said.

Maritime security sources added that the vessel was identified as the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas.

British maritime security firm Ambrey said in an advisory that the ship was attacked by four unmanned surface vehicles [USVs].

“Two of the USVs impacted the port side of the vessel, damaging the vessel’s cargo,” Ambrey added.

While no one has claimed responsibility, Ambrey said the attack matched the “established Houthi target profile”.

The Yemen-based armed group the Houthis began targeting vessels in the Red Sea shortly after Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, which the Houthis say is in defence of the Palestinians living in the besieged enclave.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have launched more than 100 attacks targeting commercial vessels, disrupting global shipping and forcing firms to reroute.

Their campaign has expanded to include vessels linked to the United States and the United Kingdom since the two countries initiated military strikes in January 2024.

In May, the Houthis and the US agreed on a ceasefire that would see the end of attacks on US ships. But the Houthis vowed to continue to target Israeli-linked vessels.

A renewed Houthi campaign against shipping could again draw in US and Western forces to the area.

This comes at a sensitive moment in the Middle East as a possible ceasefire in the war on Gaza hangs in the balance, and as Iran weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear programme following US air strikes targeting its most sensitive atomic sites.

Video shows Indian Coast Guard crews dropping dry chemical powder and taking other steps to try to douse a blaze that’s been burning for days on a cargo ship carrying hazardous materials. The ship was off the Kerala coast en route to Mumbai when explosions sparked the blaze. Four crew members are missing.