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by Aeromedia - corso Giambone 46/18 - 10135 Torino (Italy)

Five more C-130Js ordered by USAF

Interest by the Military in Future Transport Rotorcraft concept is rapidly declining. The very-large transport helicopter envisaged to cope with future mobility needs of U.S. Army and Marine Corps, succumbed to predictable high development costs, though splitted up the budgets of the current decade. With internal capacity and useful load comparable to those offered by C-130, FTR was envisioned as a way for the Army to get its own lift capability as a supplement to USAF transport aircraft.

As the Osprey programme is back on track, Marine Corps focused again on tiltrotor technology. Now the Army reconsiders C-130J conventional aircraft, and perhaps C-27J, as viable solutions to the mobility requirements of its Future Combat System.

In the meantime, USAF signed a new USD355 million order with Lockheed Martin, for another batch of five CC-130Js (stretched version by 15 ft, previously known as C-130J-30), increasing to 40 the total number of new Hercules to be delivered before the end of 2004.

Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules serial 97-1354 of 175th WG/135th AG Maryland Air National Guard, at Paris air show 1999. (Aeromedia)

(Aeromedia, March 2002)