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USCG to bid on AF C-27J
- Thread starter highside7r
- Start date
I heard it was loosing steam but not sure for what reasons.
We had an aircraft program manager stop by and talk about it for a few minutes...looks like the proposal is past the Commandant and has to (slowly) make its way through Congress. With budgetary belts tightening the concerns are how it will affect us short- and medium-term, and the USAF may not be able to let go of the program.
Also, rumor has it that a member of Congress who has an Air Guard unit in his/her district doesn't want to lose an bunch of aviation assets that are under his/her purview, so might try to derail it.
Also, rumor has it that a member of Congress who has an Air Guard unit in his/her district doesn't want to lose an bunch of aviation assets that are under his/her purview, so might try to derail it.
Bump...any update on this?
Can I assume the USCG will never again go for some sort of long-range, amphib-capable aircraft (something that can land on the water and takeoff again) for "big ocean" SAR? Not my bailiwick, I understand, but that seems to be niche capability worth having, however rarely used.
Probably a study somewhere that talks about the likelihood of needing to rescue a distressed crew in calm/fair weather you could actually park an flying boat on vs the likelihood of that rescue taking place in the middle of a shit storm of waves and weather.
As much as I love Seaplanes (Im sick... really) Outside that rare case like stumbling across the crew of the Indianapolis while carrying freight and staying with them, the benefits of a purpose designed sea plane seem to be far out weighed by an aircraft optimized for operation in the regime it spends 99% of its job in.
As much as I love Seaplanes (Im sick... really) Outside that rare case like stumbling across the crew of the Indianapolis while carrying freight and staying with them, the benefits of a purpose designed sea plane seem to be far out weighed by an aircraft optimized for operation in the regime it spends 99% of its job in.
It's not so much the virtues of rescuing by landing as opposed to hovering, as the extreme long range/high capacity you get from a flying boat. I've often thought that it'd be a good capability for the Navy/CG/ANG to have out in the Pac for long-range SAR. Put a few in Kodiak, Guam, and K-Bay, for example. The Japanese are still building and flying this big bastard, and apparently the Indians are looking at buying them too:
This is a great a/c for that mission, even though it's really just a shrunken P-5M w/ turbo-prop engines. I think the SysCom people - or whoever manages the supply system nowadays - really hate having to support small buys of "different" type a/c. You're spot on, though: the a/c would be great at remote fields in thePacific & elsewhere.
Oh, there's no chance in hell we'd ever actually buy any, I'm just saying it would give us a capability we don't have now and could use.
Don't think of it as a substitute for a helo, but instead as a plane with the range and capability of a Herk, but with the ability to also set down and haul survivors aboard. Yeah, it could do that only in relatively calm sea states, but that's more than a Herk can do.
Don't think of it as a substitute for a helo, but instead as a plane with the range and capability of a Herk, but with the ability to also set down and haul survivors aboard. Yeah, it could do that only in relatively calm sea states, but that's more than a Herk can do.
It's not so much the virtues of rescuing by landing as opposed to hovering, as the extreme long range/high capacity you get from a flying boat. I've often thought that it'd be a good capability for the Navy/CG/ANG to have out in the Pac for long-range SAR. Put a few in Kodiak, Guam, and K-Bay, for example. The Japanese are still building and flying this big bastard, and apparently the Indians are looking at buying them too:
Ahh, the US-2. When I was in Iwakuni I would watch US-1s do 'touch/splash and go's' in the harbor next to the runway, they were slloooooowwwww, about 90 knots in the pattern and being that big looked even slower.
As awesome as they are and even recognizing their continued though specific utility the US-2 is pretty much a 'make work' program that the Japanese are so good at. They make about one a year and it is very expensive to boot, all for a very limited number in service (4 or 5 total I think) that probably doesn't give them much return on the cost. The main reason the Indians are looking at them is political and the Japanese would probably sell them at a discount just to keep the factory humming.
All that said I think it would just be a nice to have, the US-1/2s can land in pretty rough seas for a seaplane due to it's unique hull but would still be a 'niche' rescuer for the rare open-ocean SAR. An AAR-equipped helo or V-22 would probably make more sense.
Which makes me wonder about doing a SAR hoist with the V-22. Does the tremendous downwash make that impractical?
I don't know if I'd call it a niche capability for the Coasties. It'd be a utility truck, just like the C-130, and I could think of a dozen new tricks you could do with a flying boat. Take vbss teams way out to sea, for example, and you can take more guys and equipment than a -60. And without organizing IFR support (which the Coasties don't have either).
Again, not that I think it'd ever happen. I just find it interesting that there's more interest and money in military blimps these days than seaplanes.
Again, not that I think it'd ever happen. I just find it interesting that there's more interest and money in military blimps these days than seaplanes.
I may be misinterpreting your post, but the US-2 in my logbook, was a Grumman 'Tracker" (w/ASW gear removed) ... and only made water landings when experiencing a double engine failure on a carrier launch.
BzB