Goodrich is running demonstrations of the ease with which its new boltless lock ring wheels and carbon brakes for the Lockheed Martin C-130 airlifter can be changed.

"You can disassemble a lock ring wheel in minutes, as it does away with all the bolts," says Michelle Lopriore, Goodrich military programme manager.

"The current wheel is lower life," she adds. "The new one is retrofittable to all flying C-130s and certificated to 25,000 wheel-miles - the old one was about 4,000."

As well as offering a longer life than the previous steel brake, the Duracarb carbon brake disk enables the complete wheel and brake assembly to be made about 17% lighter than the system it replaces. The two-piece aluminium lock ring wheel, meanwhile, eliminates the need for tie bolts.

The US Air Force plans to upgrade more than 600 C-130s and the retrofit work will begin in late-2011. There is also potential for other C-130s operated by the US Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard to be equipped. "We think that most of those folks will convert over as well," says Goodrich director of military programmes Jeff Atkinson.

For the international market, "we are considering taking orders towards the fall of this year for delivery in 2011. We have just begun our qualification testing, which will take us several months to complete, and we'd rather not take orders before qualification," he says.

"We will be talking to operators at Farnborough, and hope to talk to the Royal Air Force, " Atkinson adds.

Lopriore says Goodrich is in discussions with Lockheed over a deal to make the new wheel/brake assembly line-fit offerable for new-build C-130Js.

Source: Flight Daily News

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