Air Transportation: U.S. Air Force Demobilizes Its An-28s

Archives

July 29, 2015: The U.S. Air Force is retiring most (11 of 16) of its C-145A transports, largely to save money in the face of continuing budget cuts. The C-145A was used by the air force component of SOCOM (Special Operations Command) for training foreign troops in how to carry out air support in a combat zone. The C-145As were bought from Poland in 2009 because these were Russian designed aircraft (originally as the An-28) built under license in Poland since the 1980s. Fewer than 200 An-28s were built. Costing $14 million each the 7.5 ton C-145 is a twin engine transport that can carry 16 passengers, ten paratroopers or 2.2 tons of cargo. Being a Russian design the C-145A was more familiar to many air force personnel in places like Africa and Afghanistan, where Russian aircraft had long been used. The C-145A was rugged and simple to fly and maintain. But the benefit of having a specialty aircraft like this does not justify the expense of the logistics and maintenance infrastructure to keep it operational.

 

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close