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Technology Stocks : CPI Aerostructures (CVU)- Take a Look (was CPI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: leigh aulper who wrote (153)	8/23/2004 10:58:34 PM
From: leigh aulper	Respond to of 213

MODERNIZING THE C-5 Refurbishing the C-5 will occur in two phases: The avionics phase now under way would upgrade electronics, controls, cockpits instruments and control systems and cost $3.5 million for each plane. The second phase would not begin until 2007. It would replace engines, landing gears and power supplies and raise the cost to $75 million a plane. There are 112 C-5s in the Air Force fleet. Cockpit A collision-avoidance system was installed in 2002 that provides electronic alerts to pilots when other planes are close. The system allows a pilot to use cockpit instruments to track up to 50 planes within an 80-mile radius. Digital displays and equipment will replace '60s-era analog cockpit instruments, making for what Lockheed Martin, the contractor, describes as an "eight-fold improvement in avionics reliability." Upgrades include seven new 6-by-8-inch liquid crystal displays, laptop-size computer screens that replace various dials, wheels, tapes and assorted moving parts. Improvements also will include an embedded satellite global position/inertial navigation system. Fuselage Skin and frame upgrades are scheduled in the second phase. Wings Wings on the oldest C-5s were replaced between 1981 and 1986. No major wing updates are scheduled, but that could change after a C-5 now being cut into pieces is analyzed for structural integrity. Engine Existing General Electric turbofan engines with 43,000 pounds of thrust would be replaced in the second phase with more powerful GE commercial engines with 9,000 pounds more thrust. That would mean C-5s could use shorter runways, allowing them to get into and out of locations in more remote areas. Landing gear The 28-wheel landing gear has long been a problem, causing many of the repair problems that make the jet transport less reliable than it needs to be. The gear would be improved in the second phase.