Lockheed Martin
Posted on 09/15/2015 6:28:24 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Lockheed Martin is proposing to adapt part of the Royal Air Force’s in-service fleet of C-130J tactical transports to meet a potential UK requirement for a maritime patrol or multi-mission aircraft capability.
Outlined at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition in London on 15 September, the company’s SC-130J proposal would take the RAF’s 10 short-fuselage C-130Js and incorporate a mission system derived from that already integrated by Lockheed onto the Royal Navy’s AgustaWestland Merlin HM2 helicopters. This would include fitting an active, electronically-scanned array radar beneath the fuselage and weapons sponsons in front of the main landing gear to accommodate torpedos.
Other proposed enhancements would include fitting extended-range fuel tanks to increase mission endurance to 14h, under-wing weapons pylons capable of carrying anti-ship and air-to-surface missiles, a 20in electro-optical/infrared sensor and new communications and electronic support measures equipment. It also could gain a magnetic anomaly detector boom, if required to perform anti-submarine warfare duties, the company says.
In-country modifications – which would also include fitting sonobuoy dispensers and workstations for five onboard mission system operators – would be performed by the RAF’s existing C-130J support provider, Marshall Aerospace. The proposal also involves giving the aircraft replacement centre wing boxes, which Keith Muir, international business development manager for Lockheed Martin UK Integrated Systems, says could enable a service life of another 25 to 30 years.
Along with several other potential bidders for a maritime surveillance requirement, Lockheed is hoping to see the need for such a capability identified during the UK government’s pending Strategic Defence and Security Review.
“We are looking forward to a fair competition, with clear requirements,” Muir says.
An SC-130J platform would be able to fly 1,000nm (1,850km) and remain on station for more than 6h without air-to-air refuelling, Lockheed says. The company adds that it could deliver an operational capability to the UK before 2020 by modifying part of the RAF’s existing C-130J fleet, with a support model and trained crews already in place for the type.
Lockheed Martin
This plane constantly amazes me.
The Rolling Stones of a/c...?
Will it ever die?
Good ole’ Herkybird!
You know, almost every good rifle cartridge that needed to be developed, already was before 1910. After that, it has mainly just been variations on a theme.
Same with the golden age of aircraft development in the 1950s and 1960s.
My father served in Korea in 1955/56. He went over by Army boat and flew back on one of the first C-130’s.
Cannot fathom crossing the Pacific in one.........
Say again? I can't hear you!
I have spent some of my best (and worst) time in flight in a Herk. God help me, I do love that bird so!
Noisy? Yes.
Slow? Yes.
Lumbering? Yes.
Able to do any damn thing you ask of it? Without a doubt.
I have over 5000 hours as a C-130 loadmaster and my hearing is just fine. It's all a matter of using the proper protection.
I was born the same year the C-130 first flew. They will be flying long after I'm gone. When I was in Afghanistan there were C-130s that were over 40 years old flying daily missions. I had the privilege of flying over 5000 hours as a C-130 loadmaster. It is an incredible aircraft.
I do not recall the stewardesses handing out hearing protection, had enough trouble humping my gear up the ramp as it was.
Maybe they added sound deadening on later models.........Mid-sixties it was bare metal.
Man was not made to fly sideways on lawn furniture.
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