Wanted: a new small hauler: battle heats up to replace Army's hard-working Sherpa.

THE UNGAINLY C-23 SHERPA TRANSPORT DOES not look like a major player in combat operations in Iraq, but--plane for plane--it has hauled more cargo and troops than any aircraft in the war zone.

"The C-23 has evolved as a small hauler for the Army," said Col. Paul Kelly, chief of the National Guard Bureau's Aviation and Safety Division in Arlington, Va.

The Sherpa, however, is aging and has other limitations, and the Army has decided to develop a replacement. It intends to spend up to $4 billion for a platform called the future cargo aircraft, which would be larger than a Sherpa but smaller than a C-130.

Initially, the Army plans to buy 33 of these aircraft exclusively for the Guard, at a cost of $1 billion. That number, however, could grow. The Army has identified a requirement for 128 cargo aircraft, Kelly said.

At press time, the Army was expected to release a draft request for proposals to build the 33 new aircraft, with a final request to follow in the fall. "We're moving at a very accelerated pace," Kelly said. The contract could be awarded by early 2006, with delivery of the first aircraft in late 2007 or 2008, he said.

Thus far, two teams of contractors have announced their intention to compete. In February, Alenia Aeronautica North America formed a joint venture with L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, called Global Military Aircraft Systems, to market Alenia's C-27J Spartan.

Then, in May, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) North America and Raytheon Company partnered to offer EADS' CASA CN-235 and C-295 transports.

Alenia's C-27J is based on an earlier model, the C-27A, which was sold to the Air Force. The C-27J is an upgraded model designed with the participation of the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, using engines, propellers and flight systems installed in Lockheed's larger, longer range C-130J. For this reason, it often is called a "Baby Herc" or "half a Herc."

Italy and Greece have each ordered 12 for their military services. Bulgaria has bought eight, and the aircraft is competing for orders in Canada and Portugal.

The Spartan, with a flight ceiling of 30,000 feet, can cruise higher than the Sherpa, which is limited to 20,000 feet. It also can fly longer, with a ferry range of 3,200 nautical miles. The C-27J can carry up to 68 troops, 36 stretchers or more than 23,000 pounds of cargo.

For payload, the Spartan cannot match the C-130, which can move up to 128 troops, 97 stretchers or 42,000 pounds of gear. However, it can use much shorter airfields, landing in as little space as 1,115 feet.

Whether EADS offers the CN-235 or the C-295 will depend upon the specifics of the Army requirements, said Ralph D. Crosby Jr., EADS chairman and CEO.

The two are quite different aircraft, he told reporters. The CN-235, which has been chosen as the maritime patrol aircraft for the Coast Guard's Deepwater program and is in military service in more than 20 other countries, is the smaller of the two. With a length of 70 feet, it can carry a 13,600-pound payload or 51 troops and can land on a 2,365-foot runway. The C-295, by comparison, is 80 feet long. It can transport 71 soldiers or 20,400 pounds of cargo and land on 2,395 feet of runway.

Both teams emphasized the cargo-loading capabilities of their aircraft. Alenia said that military vehicles--including combat-ready, hardtop Humvees--can drive on and off the Spartan in minutes. EADS said the C-295's fuselage is similar to that of the Chinook, allowing the transfer of palletized cargo between the two without the need to change the payload in height, length or width.

EADS stressed that, if it gets the contract, more than 30 percent of the aircraft parts will be made in the United States. The final assembly site would be decided after the contract is awarded, Crosby said. EADS recently completed a facility in Mobile, Ala., "to service its growing American customer base," according to a company statement.

In June, EADS also announced that Mobile--with existing runways, a skilled aerospace workforce and a deepwater port on the Gulf of Mexico--had been selected as the site for U.S. production of its candidate for the KC-330 advanced aerial refueling aircraft that the Air Force would like to build. The service had planned to lease Boeing 767s for that role, but the Defense Department cancelled the controversial deal after allegations of improper influence peddling.

GMAS, the Alenia-L-3 joint venture, also is scouting out locations for U.S. facilities, said Alenia's communications chief, Ben Stone. In July, GMAS' said that it would open an office in Huntsville, Ala., to service Army aviation customers. Huntsville is home to the Army Aviation and Missile Command.

The two European manufacturers have teamed with U.S. firms to help them comply with "Buy America" laws that require that at least 50 percent of all work on defense contracts be done within the United States. Both Alenia, a subsidiary of Italy's Finmeccanica Group, and EADS, an international consortium with headquarters in Amsterdam, Munich, Paris and Madrid, have pledged that their aircraft, if selected, would be assembled here.

As industry insiders await the request for proposals, they wonder whether other manufacturers will enter the competition. Speculation centered on the Boeing Company, which makes commercial airliners, such as the 767, and a variety of military aircraft, including the mammoth C-17 Globemaster transport and the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor platform.

John F. Manning Jr., deputy manager of Washington operations for Boeing Integrated Defense, said he did not know of any interest on his company's part in the project. Another industry official, who asked not to be named, noted that Boeing did not have a small, fixed-wing transport in production, ready to be offered.

Nevertheless, the official said he wouldn't be surprised to see the company join one of the two teams already in the competition. "Boeing certainly has a lot of expertise in maintaining and supporting transport aircraft and training their crews," he said.

The Sherpa--named for the Himalayan mountain guides--was launched in 1974 by Shorts Brothers Ltd., of Belfast, Northern Ireland--and served initially as a regional airliner. Two decades ago, the Air Force began using it to ferry spare parts around bases in Europe. That program ceased in 1990, and the service transferred its C-23s to the Forest Service and the Army National Guard.

The Guard acquired 44 of them for use in theater airlift, airdrop and airborne medical evacuation, Kelly said. In 2001, one crashed during bad weather in Georgia, killing 21 crewmembers and passengers. "There's no conclusive evidence of what happened," he said.

The short, blocky Sherpa is not considered a thing of beauty, as National Defense learned on a recent flight. "Most pilots will defend their aircraft to the death," said the pilot on that flight, Col. Scott D. Wagner, commander of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard's Army Aviation Support Facility at Fort Indiantown Gap. That's not usually the case with the C-23.

In fact, confided the flight engineer, Sgt. Bob Wilson, "We call them 'sky pigs.'"

Recently, however, the Sherpa has earned respect by taking some of the load off of the Air Force's busy fleet of C-130 Hercules transports, delivering troops and cargo into and out of difficult, unimproved airfields and carrying heavier loads than many Army helicopters, Kelly said.

With a length of 58 feet, the Sherpa is 40 feet shorter than the C-130, but its belly can hold 30 troops, four small pallets or 18 casualties on litters. That's more than can fit into a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.

"In Iraq, any C-23 has hauled more troops and cargo than any one aircraft of any other type," he said. "The Sherpa can transport personnel and equipment more efficiently than a CH-47 (Chinook helicopter) or a UH-60, allowing those two platforms to concentrate on their combat roles."

The Air Force, Reserve and Air National Guard have more than 500 C-130s, but they are so busy in Iraq that ground forces are required to book flights five days in advance, said Chief Warrant Officer Jack Carman, a C-23 flight instructor at the Fixed Wing Army National Guard Aviation Training Site in Bridgeport, W.Va.

"The Air Force has its own priorities," Carman said. "We have to have our own transports."

Also, with snipers and bombs threatening Iraqi streets and roads, the Sherpa has become an attractive alternative to moving troops and supplies by truck or Humvee.

"We have three missions," Wilson said. "We can ferry troops or cargo, and we can do para drops, with individuals or loads." The Sherpa is equipped with roller pallets, a winch and a ramp door on the back to facilitate loading and unloading of cargo and personnel.

As demonstrated during the flight, the ramp can be lowered in flight, enabling paratroopers to jump and cargo to be airdropped. The operation is performed by the flight engineer, wearing a harness attached to the inside of the plane's fuselage to keep from falling out.

The Sherpa fills "a very small niche, but it's an important one," Wagner said.

Kelly agreed. "The C-23 does a pretty good job," he said, adding, "but it has its limitations." One of them is the size of its payload. A C-23 can carry a maximum of 7,100 pounds, only a fraction of the 42,000 pounds that can fit into a C-130.

Also, Kelly said, "the Sherpa has no air pressure, so it has a hard time with altitude." It can fly no higher than 12,500 feet. As a result, the aircraft is not being used in mountainous Afghanistan, and its utility is limited in some parts of the United States.

In addition, said Carman, the C-23 requires a longer runway than the C-130. The Sherpa "is advertised as a (short takeoff-and-landing) aircraft, but it's not even close." With a maximum load, it can take as long as 5,000 feet to land, about 2,000 feet more than a C-130 would take, he said.

The Sherpa has a range of only 669 nautical miles, compared to 2,835 for the Hercules, making "getting it to theater ... a major project," Carman said. "You have to stop in Newfoundland, Greenland, iceland, Scotland, Germany, Italy, Greece, Egypt and Saudi Arabia before you land in Kuwait. It's basically a tour of the Old World."

Finally, Kelly said, "the Sherpa is an old plane. The Army is faced with putting a lot of money into it, or buying a new aircraft."

The plan is to buy a plane using existing technology, rather than an entirely new design. "Everything in this aircraft is supposed to be commercial, off-the-shelf technology," Kelly said.