Posted on 01/19/2010 10:48:42 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
In the latest chapter of the on-again, off-again U.S. Air Force program to upgrade avionics on the C-130 airlifter fleet, service officials say the once-dead project is now funded and will move forward.
The Air Force says it has not yet ironed out a procurement strategy, but industry officials suggest the program will go ahead with a competition to build kits. Last month, a contest to manufacture C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) kits was quashed. The Air Force said the “government will readdress the [issue] once a way forward for the AMP program has been determined.”
This reversal was brought about at the direction of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), leading up to the Fiscal 2011 budget release on Feb. 1. The Air Force had pushed for reduced C-130 AMP funding, while the civilian leadership in OSD put it back into the budget.
This bill could put the squeeze on other Air Force budgeting priorities such as the KC-X tanker competition, F-35 and planned new starts for a Long-Range Strike (or bomber) aircraft and a Space-Based Space Surveillance satellite system.
The funding decision is forcing the Air Force to rethink its procurement strategy for the cockpit upgrade kits. These are needed to ensure that the C-130 has proper CNS/ATM (communications, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management) equipment required to gain access to preferred routes in dense airspace. And, the new direction for C-130 AMP is merely the latest chapter in the project’s complex history.
The competition to build the kits was forged in the wake of the scandal that landed Boeing’s former chief financial officer, Michael Sears, and top Air Force procurement official, Darleen Druyun, in jail after they admitted to conducting illegal job talks.
(Excerpt) Read more at aviationweek.com ...
The C-130 J30 conept variant would be cool. Will they build it?
It sounds like the Air Force is serious this time.
They can make it bigger, longer, stronger.... able to carry more troops or stuff...
and quieter.
Quieter is good. I’ve heard stories.
If you have been on board the only way to communicate is through headphones or hand signals.
We had some here in Cheyenne last year for the air show that were sporting, high-performance props. They had 8 blades, IIRC.
Are those quieter too?
ask sonofstrangelove. I have no idea.
The new props are on the C-130J models.
Thanks.
We have those guys in the air constantly around here, but the J model was something new.
They’re damn noisy.
I feel that my brain is going to explode with that loud droning “hum”.
*rocking myself* it’ll be all over soon, soon it’ll be over *rocks self*
I know that feeling.
Those new props that were at Cheyenne were not the same as on the C-130J. These were Hamilton-Sundstrum NP2000, 8-bladed props. The C-130J uses a Dowty 6-bladed prop.
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