C-130J Reaches USAF IOC, Adds $110M for Multinational Upgrades

RAF C-130J & friends(click to view full) The privately-developed C-130J Super Hercules has been the focus of a great deal of scrutiny and even controversy, including a budgetary near-death experience and Congressional reinstatement over the Pentagon’s objections, followed by a multi-year American contract and then more controversy about overestimated cancellation costs. Several countries were already buying C-130Js, however, and have been flying them for some time. While the USAF was busy certifying that its C-130Js have reached the “Initial Operating Capability” milestone, therefore, other customers were negotiating jointly with Lockheed for upgrades… Lockheed Martin has now entered into a $110 million upgrade contract to upgrade and enhance the C-130J Super Hercules transports flown by Australia, Britain, Italy and Denmark. Air Force Technology list the number of C-130J aircraft bought by these partners as: * Royal Australian Air Force: 12 * Britain: 25 (10, plus 15 stretched C-130J-30s, all delivered) * Italian Air Force: 22 (12, plus 10 stretched C-130J-30s, all delivered) * Danish Air Force 4 (3 stretched C-130J-30s, plus 1 ordered in July 2004) All four participating countries will share the cost of development, design, test and integration, while fielding the upgrades in their own chosen time frame. Known […]