With aerial refueling, the aircraft's range is limited only by crew endurance. The C-5M, with a cargo load of 281,001 pounds (127,460 kilograms), can fly 2,150 nautical miles, offload, and fly to a second base 500 nautical miles away from the original destination - all without aerial refueling. The maintenance diagnostics system has the ability to record and analyze data from more than 7,000 test points, reducing maintenance and repair time. The full-width drive-on ramps at each end enable double rows of vehicles to be transported. Both the nose and aft doors open, allowing ground crews to simultaneously load and off-load cargo from both ends, reducing cargo transfer times. It can carry oversized cargo over intercontinental ranges and can take off and land on relatively short runways. The C-5M Super Galaxy is equipped with five sets of landing gear, 28 wheels, four General Electric CF6-80C2-L1F (F-138) commercial engines, and a state-of-the-art maintenance diagnostics system.
They are stationed at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware Travis AFB, California Lackland AFB, Texas and Westover Air Reserve Base, Massachusetts. The C-5M is a modernized version of the legacy C-5 designed and manufactured by Lockheed Martin.
Its primary mission is to transport cargo and personnel for the Department of Defense. The C-5M Super Galaxy is a strategic transport aircraft and is the largest aircraft in the Air Force inventory.
