Transall C-160 Information & Transall C-160 Links at HealthHaven.com

C-160
	C-160 of the German Luftwaffe
Role	Transport aircraft
Manufacturer	Transall
First flight	25 February 1963
Introduction	1967
Primary users	Luftwaffe; French Air Force; Turkish Air Force
Produced	1965–1985
Number built	214

The Transall C-160 (often C.160) is a military transport aircraft developed by a consortium of French and German aircraft manufacturers for the air forces of those two nations and that of South Africa. The C-160 will be replaced in French and German service by the Airbus A400M, now under development.^[1]

[edit] Design and development

The C-160 was originally conceived as a replacement for the French Air Force's Nord Noratlas fleet. It is turboprop-powered and of conventional configuration for aircraft of this type, with high wings, and a loading ramp built into the rear of the fuselage. In size it falls between the Aeritalia G.222 and the C-130 Hercules.

Three prototypes flew in 1963, followed by pre-production machines in 1965 and production machines from 1967. The first batch included 110 C-160Ds for the Luftwaffe, 50 C-160Fs for the French Air Force, and nine C-160Zs for the South African Air Force. Four C-160Fs were converted to C-160P air mail transport aircraft, and were operated by Air France. Production continued until 1972 with French aircraft built by Aérospatiale and German aircraft by Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm.

[edit] Operational history

Turkish Air Force Transall C-160D lands at RIAT 2008. This is the support aircraft for the Turkish Stars aerobatic team.

A Luftwaffe Transall

In 1977, the French Air Force ordered an updated version designated C-160NG, for Nouvelle Génération ("New Generation"). From 1981, 29 of these aircraft were delivered, half of them configured as tanker aircraft for aerial refuelling. Another four were configured as C-160H TACAMO aircraft, for communication with submerged submarines. Finally, two more were converted to SIGINT electronic surveillance aircraft, designated C-160G Gabriel, replacing the Noratlases that had been in this role previously. While still new, the C-160Gs took part in the Gulf War of 1991.

From 1994 to 1999, all French C-160s underwent an avionics upgrade and the addition of new anti-missile countermeasures. The C-160Fs and NGs so updated were redesignated C-160R (Renové—"renovated"). Luftwaffe machines have similarly undergone life-extension programmes by BAE Systems, but all French and German machines are reaching the end of their service lives as of 2008^[update]. All South African machines have already been retired, while the Turkish Air Force continues to operate 20 machines obtained from Germany (C-160T).

To replace the Transall, the Luftwaffe, the French Air Force, and the South African Air Force ordered respectively 60, 50 and eight Airbus A400M.

One South African Airforce C-160Z number 337 has been preserved and is on display at the South African Airforce Museum (Swartkops Airforce Base)in Pretoria.