Photo Credit: BestShotAircraft Italian Alenia Aermacchi has completed flight-testing of its modified C-27J Spartan airlifter, featuring...
 |
| Photo Credit: BestShotAircraft |
The winglets, which are extensions to the wingtips of the aircraft, improve the overall flight performance of the aircraft by increasing the lift-drag ratio and will ever extend the performance gap between the C-27J and its competitors.
Benefits include improved hot and high runway performance, increased payload, range, endurance and the overall deriving reduction in operating costs.
First flight of the “wingletted” aircraft took place with complete success at Finmeccanica-Alenia Aermacchi’s Turin-Caselle facility, Italy, on 15 June. Flight Test campaign allowed to collect all the data to verify the design objectives achievements providing the basis for a substantiated decision to incorporate winglets into the C-27J design, also in the configuration such as gunship and surveillance aircraft.
The winglet design includes also, as a peculiarity, some parts which have been produced by a new 3D Additive Manufacturing technology. Material characteristics and properties have been ground tested, in order to support Flight qualification, by Finmeccanica-Alenia Aermacchi’s Naples-Pomigliano Engineering Laboratory.
Dubbed the 'battlefield airlifter', the medium lift category C-27J is capable of carrying a 8 ton cargo, to a maximum range of 9800 km. It is powered by 2 Rolls-Royce AE 2100-D2 turboprop engines, four of which powers the Lockheed Martin C-130J.
The aircraft is fitted with a continuous jack extension system that allows aircraft levelling or “kneeling” for easy cargo transfer, and its fully reinforced floor removes weight limitations found on other platforms.
The aircraft is equipped with a double hydraulic circuit, 3 generators, 3 alternators, 3 Transformer Rectifier Units, 3 engine restart options, fuel jettison capability, and a 3-spar wing and vertical tail structure, making it the safest and most reliable platform in its class.
The on-board Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) supplies both electrical and pneumatic power, and allows the C-27J to start easily in cold temperatures and operate autonomously from austere locations without external ground support
