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C-27J with Lithuanian Colours in Flight

At the beginning of November, the first Alenia Aeronautica C-27J for the Lithuanian Air Force began test flights - at Turin/Caselle airport - sporting full Lithuanian military markings. The delivery of this aircraft is planned before the end of the year, with two more scheduled in 2008 and 2009. Bulgaria, second export customer for C-27J, will receive eight aircraft at a later time, after Greece and Lithuania.

On November 7, 2006, C-27J began the Early User Survey in USA, to verify the respondence of the aircraft to the U.S. Army/U.S. Air Force’s requirements for the next Joint Cargo Aircraft. The activity is performed by Team C-27J, formed by Alenia North America, L-3 Communications Integration and Boeing Defense Systems, with a serie of missions out of Pope AFB, in South Carolina, Maxwell AFB and Fort Rucker - Cairns AAF - in Alabama.

C-27J msn 4114, took off from Turin/Caselle airport on October 24 and landed at Waco, Texas, two days later, after refuelling stops in UK (Prestwick), Iceland and Canada. The aircraft used for the Early User Survey is the same first item accepted – on October 23, 2006 – by the Italian ir Force. This C-27J will be delivered to IAF 46th Air Brigade, in Pisa, in December this year. Italian air Force’s C-27J transporters, in addition to the basic configuration, have flight refuelling capability, auto-protection suite and two head-up displays.

On October 10, 11 and 12, 2006, C-27J was also inspected by the Slovenian Air Force, which is going to replace its transport component. During the previous days the competing EADS-CASA C-295 was the subject of a similar evaluation. The demonstration of C-27J, performed at Ljubljana, Cevklje, Slovenj Gradec and Ptuj air bases, confirmed the superior performance and capabilities of the Italian aircraft, in particular related to the capability to carry HMMWV (Hummer) and PUCH/Mercedes vehicles used by the Slovenian Army, both too large for the cargo compartment of the competing aircraft.

In the picture: Alenia C-27J Spartan N.C.4115 “06” of the Lithuanian Air Force lands at Turin/Caselle airport (November, 2006). (Aeromedia)

(Aeromedia, November 2006)