Tactical airlifter marketed to Coast Guard, Air Guard.

• Author: Book, Elizabeth G.

Representatives of a joint venture of Italy's Alenia Aeronautica and Lockheed Martin Corp. are courting potential U.S. customers for the C-27J Spartan tactical lift aircraft. The prime target buyers are the U.S. Coast Guard and Air National Guard.

Alenia officials said they see a potential market of up to 100 aircraft--split between the Coast Guard and the Air Guard.

Company representatives spoke with reporters in Washington, D.C., during a flight demonstration of the C-27J, which was on a North American tour designed to highlight the capabilities of the airplane for homeland security missions. Alenia plans to compete with the EADS-CASA C-295 aircraft for future contracts under the Coast Guard's Deepwater program.

Alenia, based in Rome, is a subsidiary of Finmeccanica. The company teamed with Lockheed Martin in 1997 to form a joint venture called Lockheed Martin Alenia Tactical Transport Systems. Many of the features of Lockheed Martin's C-130J have been incorporated onto the C-27J.

Alenia's senior vice president Pier Luigi Romagnoli said that the company already has sold the aircraft to the Italian Air Force, as well as to the governments of Portugal, Ireland, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. A contract with Greece is pending. The first delivery of the Spartan will be in 2005, he said.

Some of the common features with the C-130J include the nose radar, the propulsion and avionic systems, the cockpit layout and the wings. The...