Dominant Logistics
An Advanced Tactical Transport
Development is ongoing for an aircraft called the Advanced Tactical Transport, or ATT. This aircraft is intended as the future replacement for the C-130 Hercules. At present, Boeing is working on a tilt-wing conventional aircraft design with turboprops while Lockheed is planning for a turbojet powered design using blown flaps for increased lift. My personal preference is for neither of these. I think Boeing is taking a more realistic approach but I think we can do better than their design.
What I would suggest is a design that is essentially a larger version of the proposed Joint Transport Rotorcraft. Some time ago, there were studies suggesting the development of what was dubbed a V-44, basically an enlarged V-22 Osprey with a second wing/engine set towards the tail of the aircraft. While the V-22 has failed to materialize for a variety of reasons, I think this approach would be sound using the proposed JTR tilt-wing approach instead.
Another key feature to incorporate here is the ability to fly wing-in-ground effect. This involves flying very low to the ground and using the air pressure from low-level flight to decrease the drag on the wing. This allows for significant increases in speed and range over conventional designs. Ideally, this aircraft should also be capable of operating from the water. If we retain Boeing's suggested wide body fuselage, this should be possible without too much difficult.
The payload of this aircraft should come in at around 25 tons for VTOL operations and 35-40 tons for ESTOL. It should also have a range on the order of 6000 miles while flying WIG. And because we're using the wings and powertrains of the JTR in this design, it should be relatively inexpensive to design and operate.
References
http://www.oocities.org/equipmentshop/nextchinook.htm
http://www.oocities.org/equipmentshop/wig.htm
http://www.oocities.org/dominantlogistics/jtr.html
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The ATT can serve as the airborne platform for executing the Logistics Net concept. With this design, we support the force by bringing in support materials from a variety of different area simultaneously. By using appropriate prepositioning methods, we will have numerous regions from which the fighting force can draw these materials as they are needed.
The fuselage design for the ATT provides sufficient room for either four tactical pallets or two of the larger strategic pallets like those in current use. In this quantity, a single ATT could deliver all of the normal needs for an entire infantry battalion in a single flight. Or that single flight could be used to refuel and rearm an entire armor platoon or larger depending on the systems being used.
Using the WIG capabilities of the aircraft, it can self-deploy to most areas of the world and can carry out normal support operations over very long ranges. With this approach, there is no single large area for an enemy to engage with long range missiles because support can come from many different locations. For example, let's look at the recent operations in Iraq.
Realistically, we could've used prepositioned stocks in Turkey, UAE, Qatar, Israel, Kuwait, and ships in the Gulf and Mediterranean. The ATT could pick up pallets of Tier III materials from any of these locations, deliver them to areas throughout Iraq at speeds in excess of 300mph, delivered the materials either to a short landing strip or by parachute, and then moved on to another location. The same tactic could've been used for fuel and heavy ammunition operations as well. Instead, we were forced to rely on a handful of roads that were never really secured. We got away with it this time but you can bet there are those who will be studying what just went down.
The ATT would also serve as the primary aircraft for airborne operations, ie paratroops. It's speed and range characteristics make it ideal for serving in this role. Plus we also gain the ESTOL capability so it will be more practical to engage in tactical level paratroop operations as well in support of air mechanized assaults.