U.S. Air Force photo by Technical Sergeant Carolyn Herrick.
Two short lived C-27J Spartans sit mummified on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB), Arizona, 02JUN2016. Spartans were being interned at Davis-Monthan in 2013.
Video by Airman First Class Kelly Greenwell, Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMaRG) personnel mummifying an Ohio Air National Guard (ANG) C-27J with ‘spraylat’, 24OCT2013:
The Lockheed Martin-Leonardo Alenia Aermacchi (aka Leonardo Company) C-27J Spartan is a modernized version of the Aeritalia-Alenia Aeronautica G.222 (aka C-27A). The ‘J’ denotes that it uses the same engines and similar avionics as the C-130J Super Hercules. The concept for the C-27J was apparently suggested in 1997, the first flight of a C-27J was in September 1999. In June 2007, the U.S. Army (USA) and U.S. Air Force (USAF) decided to try the C-27J for their ‘Joint Cargo Aircraft’ operations. By 2009, the USA/Army National Guard Bureau decided they didn’t like the C-27J and gave their Spartans to the USAF/Air National Guard Bureau. The USA said their Chinook, and other utility helicopters, were much more cost effective at tactical transport, than the C-27J.
Ohio Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Jeffery Allen.
Ohio ANG C-27J loads-up in Qalat, Afghanistan, 15AUG2011.
By 2012, the USAF decided they didn’t like their Spartans either, because of operational costs. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) then decided to sell the C-27J to other countries, but Leonardo Company stated it would not provide maintenance support for those second-hand DoD aircraft because it conflicted with its own efforts to sell new-build C-27Js to new customers. In 2013, former USA/USAF C-27Js were being divided between U.S. Special Operations Command (AC-27J), U.S. Coast Guard (HC-27J), U.S. Forest Service (although the National Defense Acts of 2012 & 2013 approved the transfer of C-27Js to the USFS, apparently the USCG decided to swap some of its C-130s for the C-27Js meant for the USFS), and the ‘boneyard’ at Davis-Monthan AFB. The decision to transfer or mothball C-27Js came the same year the DoD’s scandalously failed efforts to provide Afghanistan with former Italian air force (Aeronautica Militare) C-27As (G.222) were made public. In 2014, the USAF’s official Air Force Magazine blamed the whole Spartan affair on Congress: “The case serves, however, as an object lesson in the wasteful effects of sequestration and, broadly, America’s inability to create a long-term defense spending plan.”
Despite the publicity over the mishandling of the U.S. Spartan program, and mothballing of ANG aircraft, the C-27J is very much alive, in use with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOC).
U.S. Army video report about Operation Toy Drop, December 2015:
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant First Class Sean A. Foley.
Paratroopers jump from a perfectly good USSOC Spartan, over Fort Bragg in North Carolina, 26OCT2015.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Third Class Taylor Bacon.
USCG HC-27J delivering pandemic vaccines to San Diego, California, 09MAR2021.
The C-27J is also being used by at least a dozen countries.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Christopher Quail.
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) C-27J leaves tiny Tinian, U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, during Cope North wargame, 19FEB2014.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Dana J. Butler.
Lietuvos Karinės oro pajėgos (Lithuanian Air Force) C-27J on Šiauliai Air Base, Lithuania, 01APR2014.
USAF photo by Senior Airman Damon Kasberg.
Bulgarian Air Force (Voennovazdushni sili, Военновъздушни сили) C-27J Spartan during NATO’s Steadfast Javelin-2 wargame, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, 02SEP2014.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Joe W. McFadden.
Hellenic (Greek, Πολεμική Αεροπορία, Polemikí Aeroporía) War Aviation Spartan takes off from Souda Bay, Greece, 29JAN2015.
USAF photo by Senior Airman Nicole Sikorski.
Bulgar C-27J Spartan over Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 16JUL2015.
Photo via Leonardo Company.
C-27J of the Fuerza Aérea del Perú.
RAAF video of dirt strip landing, May 2018:
USA photo by Sergeant First Class John Etheridge.
RAAF C-27J during Talisman Saber wargame, 17JUL2019.
USA photo by Private First Class Andrew Webbbuffington.
U.S. paratroopers jumping from a perfectly good Italian Aeronautica Militare C-27J, 25JUL2019.
USAF photo by Senior Airman Malcolm Mayfield.
Forțele Aeriene Române (Romanian Air Force) Spartan during Carpathian Summer wargame, 31JUL2019.
Mexican Army & Air forces (ejército y FAM) video of C-27J (as well as C-295) loading-up with aid for flooded cities in the state of Tabasco, November 2020:
November 2020 promotional video by Leonardo Company:
October 2020: HOW TO MUMMIFY YOUR KC-10, OR, LAST FLIGHT OF 86-0036
Vehicle I-D: HOW THE HIND RETURNED TO AFGHANISTAN, AND WHY IT WON’T DIE