Lockheed announces two large C-130 orders

Lockheed announced two huge C-130J orders for the US military. The first is a $5.3B, multi year order for 78 aircraft iof all types. The second is for $1B, and includes 13 C-130-30s, and 5 HC-130s. An additional 11 MC-130s are to be procured for conversion to AC-130S, two KC-130s, and a single HC-130 for the Coast Guard.

www.flightglobal.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

Hmmm ... a major downsizing of personnel resources continues. Transportation capabilities increased/modernized.

Might leave an ATSer wondering what it all means.

a reply to: Snarl

The military is notoriously awful with personnel management. The AF recently offered early retirement to most pilots, and many of the ones eligible took up the offer in pursuit of an airline job. When they needed to flush even more pilots, they fired some more. Now, just after doing so, they are critically manned for pilots in a number of fields and doing everything they can to pump more pilots into the training pipeline. In just a few years this process will repeat barring another large war.

Also, I'd bet that the majority of these orders are for modernization and replacement, rather than organic growth. Still plenty of legacy H models flying around, especially in the Guard.

a reply to: justwanttofly

Yeah there are. Even with all the new J models they've bought in recent years, the average C-130 is still older than all the crew members that operate it. There are a lot of them flying around just with the US.