C-5M Surge Complete

Ten C-5 aircraft—two C-5M Super Galaxys and a total of eight legacy C-5A/Bs—were used to transport more than 100 US Army helicopters and more than 400,000 pounds of related equipment from Naval Station Rota, Spain, to Bagram and Kandahar Airfields in Afghanistan during a thirty-day surge in June and July. The eight C-5A/Bs, replaced as necessary for maintenance, were flown on twenty-three missions, while the two C-5Ms were flown on twenty-two missions. Although the Super Galaxys flew one fewer mission, the two aircraft hauled fifty-five percent of the total cargo. Air Mobility Command officials said the C-5Ms completed the operation with a ninety-six percent maintenance departure reliability rate versus an eighty-two percent rate for the C-5A/B aircraft.