Tuesday, November 25, 2014VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Looking at the many buttons and knobs in the cockpit of a C-130H, it might be hard to tell that the aircraft was introduced in the late 1950s. But if some of the plane's systems aren't modernized by the end of the decade, the plane could be woefully obsolete.
“There are changes in the international air space and the federal air space that require us to make changes to our avionics and electronics in the air plane, both for communication and navigation,” said Col. James Dignan, commander of the 910th airlift wing and Youngstown Air Reserve Station. “We have to have plans to operate in any air space so we can operate anywhere in the world if we're called on just as our active duty counterparts do.”
To comply with regulations regarding flight in civil airspace, modernizing the plane would include adding night-vision capable digital displays -- the current system is analog -- and adding a flight management system used on Boeing 737 civilian aircraft, according to Defense Industry Daily.
Nine C-130 airplanes are stationed at the base, most of them in their second decade of service. The aircrafts are used to spray insecticides and herbicides and during airlifts. Planes from the 910th were used in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to kill mosquitoes and stop the spread of West Nile virus and in cleanup efforts after the Deepwater Horizon explosion that spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
At the air base Monday, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D Ohio, spoke about legislation that would fund upgrades of C-130s across the nation. The cost of upgrading the navigation and communication systems through the Avionics Modernization Program has not been announced, but a study by the Institute for Defense Analyses placed the cost per plane at between $14.3 million and $19.5 million.
“It's in our domestic interest, our national interest and certainly Youngstown's interest that this base continues to prosper. We're concerned about the future of this plane because the Air Force seems to have moved away from doing what they need to do with these planes,” said Brown, who is co-chairman of the Senate Air Force Caucus.
Absent the upgrades, Dignan said, the base would be “dead in the water.”
“Having a plan like the senator does to modernize the older legacy aircraft, it will make us stronger for the future and make us viable as we go into the next century,” the base commander continued. “We want to make sure we stay viable and stay strong here at the 910th. We need to make sure we maintain and modernize them so we can stay on track with the rest of the Air Force.”
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, proposed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would allow the Air Force to seek “alternative programs and funding in addition to the Avionics Modernization Program.
“This is a common-sense amendment to ensure the C-130 fleet gets the near-term airspace compliance upgrades it needs while still making clear to the Air Force that we expect them to continue with a program to meet the full modernization needs of the aircraft,” Portman said in a prepared statement.
In an op-ed essay last month, Portman wrote that National Guard and Air Force Reserves are “getting the short straw” when it comes to upgrading aircraft.
“Airspace compliance upgrades must be done, but should be integrated as part of longer-term improvements. This integration upfront will save money, avoiding concurrent and potentially nonstandardized modifications while ensuring we don’t fail to see the forest through the trees,” he wrote.
Brown said he has worked closely with Portman and U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-13 Ohio, on providing funding to the air base, which employs 400.
“Sen. Portman and Congressman Ryan have been very good at this,” Brown said. “Ryan is very aware of what's going on here at the air reserve station. He keeps me informed and I keep him informed.”
After spending the morning touring the base, including a stop in the avionics lab to see some of the technological changes the C-130 has undergone — among them the drastic changes in a GPS from 10 years ago compared to one from 20 years ago — Brown said the line of planes very much remains an important part of the Air Force.
“It will continue to fly, but we need to make sure we can accelerate the modernization of these. This plane [in the hangar] is probably 25 years old, but some of them are as old as 40,” he said. “They're still safe. They're still efficient. And they can do all kinds of things that are important, both domestically and internationally, for our country.”
Copyright 2014 by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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