Background on Tactical Airlift:

Significant capacity to carry troops and supplies by air in support of large-scale military operations only evolved during the Second World War (1939-45). By the end of that conflict, such aircraft basically fell into two categories: twin-engined and four-engined. The larger-capacity, longer-ranged four-motored aircraft (such as military versions of the American-designed Douglas DC-4 and DC-6 airliners) could be described as “strategic” transport aircraft, while the twin-engined types – primarily the Douglas “Dakota” (designated the C-47 by the U.S. Army) and the Curtiss “Commando” (C-46) – slowly but surely fell from their wartime role as the standard “do-everything” cargo aircraft, and, in the ensuing Cold War years, de facto became what we now know as “tactical transports”.

During the 1950s/early 1960s, the first custom-designed tactical airlifters such as the Fairchild C-119 “Flying Boxcar” and deHavilland Canada DHC-4 “Caribou” came on the scene, offering a rear cargo ramp and improved short-field performance. By the 1960s, “airlift” had replaced “transport” as the preferred functional term in the military context. A basic definition of “tactical airlift” is:

“Airlift providing immediate and responsive air movement and delivery of combat troops and supplies directly into objective areas through air-landing, airdrop, low-altitude parachute extraction (LAPES) or other delivery techniques. Tactical airlift also provides air logistic support of all theatre forces, including those involved in combat operations, to meet specific theatre objectives and requirements. Resupply and rapid battlefield mobility are given within the theatre of operations.” [Encyclopedia of the U.S. Military, Arkin, Handler, Morrissey and Walsh, New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1990.]

As an operational concept, strategic airlift, tactical airlift and tactical aviation (the latter referring to helicopter operations in support of ground forces) together comprise “air mobility”.

Today, the distinction between tactical airlift and strategic airlift depends not so much on the number of a transport aircraft’s engines as on their type: jet-engined aircraft are generally seen as “strategic”, while turboprop-powered (and therefore slower and shorter-ranged) aircraft are “tactical”. Tactical transports are also usually designed to operate into and out of rougher, shorter, more primitive airfields than the facilities required by strategic transports.

In the context of the Canadian Forces, this evolution has been represented by the longtime use of Boeing 707 jetliners -- designated the CC-137 by the CF -- for strategic airlift (as well as some air-to-air refueling of fighter aircraft) from 1970-1997, while the classic CC-130 Lockheed Hercules first came on the scene in Canada’s air force in 1960 as the tactical-airlift counterpart.

Today, the Boeings have been replaced by five CC-150 Polaris aircraft (essentially Airbus A310 airliners, with dual passenger/freight configurability), while the Hercules soldiers on in both its fundamental tactical-airlift role as well as being routinely pressed into service as a strategic airlifter, flying to destinations around the globe. Five of the CC-130s are also equipped to provide air-to-air refueling for fighter aircraft.