C-130 Avionics Modernization Test Program Completed

  • Published
  • By Jim Adcock
  • 412th Test Wing, Air Force Flight Test Center
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  On Dec. 11, the C-130 Integrated Test Team successfully completed the last test flight for the Avionics Modernization Program (AMP).

The flight culminated a 3-year Development Test and Evaluation (DT&E) effort; logging 295 test missions totaling over 1000 flight hours. The program, which replaced analog "steam gauges" and instruments with a modern "glass" flight deck, brought the 1950's designed airframe into compliance with current air traffic management and AF navigation safety requirements.
 
The upgrades to the communication, navigation and surveillance systems also helped standardize the C-130 combat delivery fleet, reducing total life cycle costs. The new flight deck includes six multi-function displays, two heads-up displays (HUDs), upgraded communication and navigation control panels, two mission processors, ARC-210 radios, data links, and a completely new air data system.

In the course of DT&E, the team deployed to locations around-the-world to evaluate the new systems in operationally representative environments. These globe-spanning expeditions, encompassing 19 days and over 91 flight hours, included flights across the Pacific to evaluate system characteristics during Antemeridian and Equator crossings, and a deployment to Europe that included flights over the North Pole.

The program met another significant milestone with the successful completion of all-weather testing at the McKinley Climatic Laboratory, Eglin AFB, Fla. Climatic lab tests subjected the AMP systems to extreme temperatures ranging from negative 50 to 131 degrees Fahrenheit.

The AMP inaugural flight staged from Kelly Airfield in San Antonio, Texas, Sept. 19, 2006. The aircraft was then brought to Edwards.

The Integrated Test Team, part of the Global Reach Combined Test Force, is comprised of approximately 100 members; including personnel from the 412th Engineering Group , 412th Test Management Group, 912th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 418th Flight Test Squadron, Boeing Corporation, Air Mobility Command and the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center.