Exciting Aircraft

Two of the most exciting new aircraft projects are the MC-12 Liberty and the C-27 Spartan. Notice anything unusual about those designations? Neither one is an F or a B! Maybe this has something to do with the fact that the Chief of Staff of the AF is a C-130 pilot, but whatever the reason, I think it's awesome (and it's about time).

The MC-12 has an ISR mission, and they started development last summer. According to a Global Security article, "SAF/AQ tasked Big Safari to procure and modify aircraft as quickly as possible." They're flying operationally now. Nice!

The C-27 is a "mini-Herc" (a smaller version of the C-130 Hercules). It too is a rapid development effort based on a mature airframe. Very, very FISTy.

I hope we continue to see more efforts like this!