The C-5 Galaxy was originally introduced in the late 1960s as a strategic airlifter able to cross entire oceans without refueling. The C-5 is the largest airlifter built by the United States, 65 feet high and with a wingspan of 247 feet. It can carry a maximum of 135 tons of cargo. With a combat load of sixty tons of cargo, the C-5M can fly from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to Incirlik Air Force Base, Turkey nonstop without refueling. According to the Air Force, it can fly 7,000 miles without cargo.
Budget cuts immediately sidelined a dozen C-5Ms, and the Air Force's fleet of non-upgraded C-5A/B/C Galaxies and Super Galaxies shrank from 112 to just 56 planes The Air Force plans to bring back two Super Galaxies a year over four years.
What's prompting the return of the giant planes? As the Pentagon reorients to the Asia-Pacific, it faces the prospect of flying long distances without refueling. At a March 31 event attended by reporters and congressional representatives, the head of the Air Force's Air Mobility Command claimed that the C-5 is the only airlifter that can make the trip non-stop from the continental United States, in this case Travis Air Force Base in California, to Yokota Air Base in Japan, just outside Tokyo.
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