Huge Russian plane aids American missions
| • | Graphic (opens in new window): American helicopters on a Russian plane |
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Lt. Col. Lowell Mooney saw his first Russian An-124 cargo carrier up close toward the end of January at Hickam Air Force Base.
U.S. Army photo
Then "there was a whole slew of them (that arrived) all in a row," said Mooney, director of operations for the 735th Air Mobility Squadron.
A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter is loaded aboard a Russian An-124 transport. The huge Russian aircraft have proved invaluable in supplementing U.S. airlift capacity, American military officials said.
The fact that the former Cold War foe's aircraft and its non-English-speaking crew were loading up for a U.S. military airlift was novel enough.
But it was the cargo capacity of one of those later-arriving Russian transports — wider than a cavernous U.S. C-5 Galaxy — that drew special attention from Mooney, a 24-year Air Force veteran.
Inside went four Black Hawk helicopters, two Humvees with ammunition trailers in tow, and troops.
Mooney recalled that the destination was Afghanistan or the Persian Gulf region.
"I have pictures of it being loaded, as a matter of fact," Mooney said. "I took a lot of pictures that day just because even I was kind of amazed how much stuff they got on this plane."
The increasing use of one of the largest transport planes in the world probably is generating a lot of similar attention at U.S. military bases across the country.
War needs in Afghanistan and Iraq have outpaced U.S. airlift capacity to deliver manpower and materiel overseas, making it necessary to use the big Russian transports for some oversized cargo runs.
"If we did not have the An-124 availability, the cargo would be moved late, or not at all," said Capt. Michael Johnson, a spokesman for Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.
The An-124 Ruslan, NATO code-named Condor, had the title of world's largest aircraft until the appearance of the related AN-225, which carries the Russian space shuttle. The Ruslan retains the title of largest aircraft in production.
An-124s, which entered service in 1986, supplemented a U.S. airlift and tanker force that Air Force Magazine said carried out more than 8,000 sorties in the first 16 days of Operation Iraqi Freedom — with the resulting strain prompting some to call for a re-evaluation of U.S. airlift requirements. The Air Force has 358 C-5, C-17 and C-141 cargo carriers in its active duty, Guard and Reserve fleets.
The sight of the white-and-blue transports, with Russian company Volga-Dnepr's name in Cyrillic on the fuselage and its front-opening nose, still has U.S. military heads turning wherever they go.
"There are some people who are still a bit surprised when we tell them a Russian aircraft is coming to pick up their equipment," Johnson said. "But we have had no particular problems."
U.S. Army photo
The wingspan of the Condor is 240 feet — longer than a 747-400 by 29 feet.
U.S. Army helicopters are secured aboard a Russian An-124 transport aircraft. The Russian aircraft is similar in capacity to the U.S. C-5 and can carry both equipment and troops.
Although Lockheed Martin hired an An-124 to retrieve a disassembled Navy EP-3 reconnaissance plane that was forced to land on Hainan island in China in 2001 — making a stop at Hickam on its return — Johnson said the first An-124 mission chartered by Air Mobility Command was on Jan. 26, 2002.
That trip took the four-engined Condor from Biggs Army Airfield in Texas to Osan, South Korea, and back as part of an Army special assignment.
Johnson said the Air Force uses Volga-Dnepr to fly oversized cargo only when no C-5 or C-17 is available to carry the load. There also must be no Civil Reserve Air Fleet carriers, which include aircraft from virtually every major U.S. cargo carrier, on hand that can do the job.
An-124s were used for both Afghanistan and Iraq. Between May and June of 2002, they were contracted for 18 missions from Ankara, Turkey, to Kabul, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. They also have been flown into Kuwait and other locations for the war in Iraq, and performed about 70 missions in the Central Command's area of responsibility, Johnson said.
One of the disadvantages of the Condor's use is that some countries ask for greater advance notice when they are used in place of U.S. military aircraft, Johnson said.
Air Mobility Command spent $16.4 million in fiscal 2002 for An-124 service out of a total commercial airlift budget of $1.3 billion, and $24.6 million in fiscal 2003 to date out of total commercial expenditures of $1.7 billion.
Volga-Dnepr is the only foreign transport used by the Defense Department. Johnson said it has to meet the same stringent safety and maintenance requirements as U.S. carriers, and the planes are inspected regularly. At Hickam, six to eight An-124s transited the base on missions this year alone.
Three Black Hawk air ambulances from the 68th Medical Company at Schofield Barracks were shipped on an An-124 in April to Thailand for exercise "Cobra Gold," and equipment and Marines from the 1st Radio Battalion at Kane'ohe Bay were sent on one of the Russian transports to the Middle East.
Mooney said the crew members are professional, and the business of air transport — and the desire to partake in Hawai'i's attractions while they're here — has long since eclipsed any former iciness in relations.
"We come out and we exchange patches, and we exchange (military command) coins, and shake hands, and they're excited about going downtown and going to Duke's," Mooney said. "That's one of the things one of the crew members (said) — 'I Dukes.' "
Language remains a barrier, but Mooney said 735th squadron logistics planners have load plans and know the cargo capabilities for the Russian transport.
"We're out there actually loading the plane with these guys," Mooney said, "but they're pretty much leaving it to us where we want to put what on the airplane."
The biggest difference is the Russians' use of an interior crane to move cargo onto the Condor's plywood floor; U.S. aircraft have rollers in the floor.
"I'm impressed with what the Russians have — although the big difference is the time frame it takes to load a 124 is majorly different from a C-5," Mooney said, adding the two aircraft are pretty comparable in cargo-carrying capabilities.
"A C-5 takes several hours to load everything on, and he's airborne again. This (the An-124), they take every bit of that time just to (load the cargo on board)."
The Air Force's big C-5 and C-141 transports, although no longer being made, are projected to be flying for years to come, while Boeing has delivered more than 100 of the latest-generation C-17 Globemaster IIIs to the Air Force, and is under contract to deliver 80 more through 2007.
Hickam is expected to get a squadron of eight C-17s in late 2005 or early 2006.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
