Air Force weighs a pilotless successor to the C-5 and C-17

The Air Force’s Next Generation Airlift (NGAL) effort would replace both the C-5M Super Galaxy and the C-17A Globemaster III with a single, potentially autonomous strategic airlifter. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Mobility Aircraft Directorate issued a Request for Information on June 12, 2026, asking industry for concepts and crew approaches ranging from traditional cockpits to fully autonomous operations. Submissions are due by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on July 17, with a public Q&A posted July 2. The service has 222 C-17A Globemaster IIIs and 52 C-5Ms; production ended for the C-17A in 2015, and C-5M upgrades stem from airframes built 1968–1989. Readiness for the C-17A has dropped to a 37% mission-capable rate despite modernization, while C-5M faces worsening aging pressures. NGAL is aimed at starting C-5M swaps around fiscal year 2050, then moving to C-17A replacements later.