2015
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WASHINGTON — Six U.S. service members and five contractors were killed in a C-130 crash at Jalalabad Airport in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said late Thursday. The crash, which occurred just after midnight Friday Afghanistan time, involved a C-130J assigned to the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, which is part of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing. The airport at Jalalabad, located about 100 miles east of Kabul, is used only for military and United Nations flights. In a post online, the Taliban claimed they had shot down the aircraft, killing 15 “invaders” plus several Afghan “hirelings.” However, U.S. Air Force Maj. Tony Wickman, a spokesman for the 455th said, “Ene…
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Israel Aerospace Industries' (IAI) Bedek group will make an unsolicited proposal for the supply of four upgraded Lockheed Martin C-130Es to the French air force. Sources in France confirm that they expect to receive a proposal from IAI. France's DGA defense procurement agency recently issued a request for proposals for the purchase and modification of four C-130s to Marshall Aerospace and Defense Group, Ogma and Sabena Technics. According to the request, the French air force wants to acquire four C-130s in an operational condition, and with center wing boxes that will allow another them to log another 20-30 years of use. Two of the Hercules must be equip…
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The implications are tremendous. The C-130 Air Force Special Operations Command Acceleration Plan now being worked in the 560th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron directly affects current world events. "Just look at the news. It will get you on board with this," said Mike Smith, AFSOC Acceleration Plan team lead. "This aircraft directly affects what happens on the news. "These planes get beat up and they're used, so it's very important for us to step up the plate," he added. "These mechanics have bought into it to get these aircraft back to the warfighter as quickly as we can." The plan will also transform the way programmed depot maintenance operations are …
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It was recently cleared for publication that the new Samson transport aircraft operated by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) has conducted its first round of paratrooper drill, takeoff from makeshift strips as well as long-haul flight abroad. The IAF said its new C-130J Super Hercules recently carried teams which parachuted and conducted air dives and freefalls. It was also reported that the aircraft has made a maiden voyage to Romania, Bulgaria and Greece.The paratrooper drill took place over the Palmachim airbase. Some 30 instructor course cadets jumped from an altitude of 400 meters (over 1300 feet). Paratrooper and Flight Operations Commander, Lt. Colonel Nachmias explained…
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The 352nd Special Operations Group was redesignated as the 352nd Special Operations Wing during a ceremony held in Hangar 814 March 23. Immediately following this, the 752nd Special Operations Group and the 352nd Special Operations Maintenance Group were activated.Consisting of six squadrons and two groups, the 352nd SOW includes more than 1,200 Air Commandos and provides support to the European theater as well as other combatant commands when necessary.“We not only support Special Operations Command – Europe, but we will also support Special Operations Command – Africa, to combat the challenges we see and the struggles we have against violent extremism. And that is not g…
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The Philippine military yesterday signed a pact with the US Navy to buy two secondhand C-130 transport planes to boost its capability to fan out quickly for territorial defence and humanitarian operations. Washington has been helping develop the military capability of its former colony in the face of serious security challenges in the South China Sea, as China steps up its presence in disputed areas. China claims almost all of the sea, believed to be rich in mineral and oil-and-gas deposits. Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines also have claims on the waters. The transport planes, to be delivered early next year, will take to five the number of mission…
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C-130 News: Afghan Air Force achieves milestone: first-ever all-Afghan C-130 training flight
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An all Afghan-led Afghan Air Force C-130 crew reached a major milestone on their path to sustainability Nov. 5, 2015, at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan. An Afghan aircrew walked out to their C-130 and briefed in preparation for their first-ever all-Afghan C-130 training sortie. After the briefing, the crew started engines and taxied out while being marshalled by an Afghan maintainer. (U.S. Air Force photo by Lt. Col. Michael Morales/released) The Afghan Air Force achieved a major milestone on their path to sustainability Nov. 5 at Hamid Karzai International Airport. That morning, an Afghan aircrew walked out to their C-130 and bri…
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The first of the seven HC-130Hs that are being transferred from the Coast Guard to the U.S. Forest Service will arrive at Forest Service Air Station McClellan (FSAS MCC) in mid-June, not mid-May as originally planned. And yes, that is what the Forest Service is calling their facility at McClellan Airport in Sacramento, California. The aircraft will still be a work in progress when it lands at MCC. It will not have the paint job as seen above, but will be gray and white with U.S. Forest Service Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System MAFFS markings, according to Jennifer Jones, a USFS spokesperson for the USFS. The gravity-based retardant tank will not have been installed, …
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All clear! Another C-130 Super Herk heads south to Moody AFB. HC-130J 12-5768 c/n 5768 View the Tweet: https://twitter.com/LockheedMartin/status/598952198509338624 What do you think about the replies to Lockheed's Tweet? View full article
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The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City invited a number of Vietnamese reporters to a session that introduced the features of the C-130 Hercules aircraft coded 1459 at Da Nang International Airport, according to Infonet, the news website of the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications.The turboprop military transport aircraft is 29.3 meters long and 11.9 meters tall, and has a wingspan of 39.7 meters, Tuoi Tre Online said.It has four Allison T56-A-15 propeller jet engines with a capacity of 4,591 HP and can fly at 366 kph in all weather conditions, the newswire added.This kind of plane is mainly used to transport people an…
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department has approved the possible sale of for Lockheed Martin C-130J transports and associated equipment to France. The proposed deal under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program -- administered by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency -- would be worth an estimated $650 million. In addition to two C-120Js and two KC-130Js with Rolls-Royce AE-2100 engines, France's shopping list includes spare engines, AN/ALE 47 electronic counter-measure dispensers, AN/AAR-47A(V)2 missile warning systems, AN/ALR-56M radar warning receivers, embedded Global Positioning/Inertial Navigation systems, and radios. "It…
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When Lockheed designed the C-130 Hercules in Marietta in the 1950s, company engineer Kelly Johnson said they would be lucky to sell a hundred. In 2015, Tony Frese, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and deputy program manager of C-130 Programs, delivered number 2,500. “Here we are 60 years later,” said Frese. “So we always are quite thankful that Kelly Johnson, a brilliant man, got that one piece wrong.” That engineer, Johnson, was working on sleek reconnaissance jets. The Hercules, by comparison, is clunky, with large propellers, a heavy tail and a belly big enough to fit a bulldozer. But that’s been the massive transport plane’s secret…
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Rolls-Royce’s eight-year journey to develop the T56 Series 3.5 engine upgrade package for legacy C-130 aircraft is about to bear fruit following the US Air Force’s “Milestone C” decision last week to commit the program to production and deployment. Tom Hartmann, senior vice president of customer business for Rolls-Royce Defense, expects to be on contract with the air force for an initial 14 upgrade kits this month and another order of 36 is expected in fiscal year 2016. The initial contract is valued at $38 million and is the start of what could be a long-running engine improvement program. It also helps Rolls-Royce as the company pitches the Series 3.5 upgrade to the g…
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Sweden has begun reducing its operational Lockheed Martin C-130H Hercules fleet as it looks for a replacement for the ageing airlifters, a service official disclosed on 29 April. Speaking at the home of F17 Wing’s forward dispersal base on the island of Gotland, Colonel Marcus Bjorkgren, Chief of Staff of the Swedish Air Force (SwAF), said that two of the country’s eight C-130H aircraft had been flown to Marshall Aerospace in the UK, where they are to remain. “We have six C-130s now being operated, with two parked at Marshalls. We may go down to four, and we will hopefully have something else [as a replacement]in the future,” he said. Having received the first of its C…
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A major contract to maintain the Royal Air Force’s fleet of US-made Hercules aircraft has been awarded to British companies, safeguarding 1,200 UK jobs. The bulk of the £369m deal to extend the life of the four-engine transport aeroplanes until 2030 will go to Cambridge-based Marshall Aerospace and Defense Group. Under the terms of the six-year contract, about 1,100 jobs around Cambridge servicing the C-130J aircraft, which carry troops and cargo, will be protected. A further 100 jobs at Rolls-Royce, which will maintain the aircrafts’ engines, and at the UK arm of Lockheed Martin, which will manage the supply chain of parts needed,…
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Iraqi authorities detained a Canadian military aircraft for three days in Baghdad two weeks ago because of problems with its cargo. The Department of National Defence confirmed in an emailed statement that a CC-130 Hercules was denied onward movement to the Iraqi-Kurdish capital Erbil by government authorities at the Baghdad International Airport on Oct. 28. The aircraft was flying in support of Operation Impact, the Canadian Forces’ operation against ISIS, and was eventually allowed to return to Kuwait on Oct. 31. Citing security reasons, National Defence didn’t provide many details on the cargo, saying only that it was an “issue with customs d…
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LONDON — A Royal Air Force C-130J Hercules is set to take to the air in the next few days to recommence trials of a major upgrade to the aircraft that is so late it has already been rolled into a subsequent improvement program. Fitted out with an extensive suite of software and hardware improvements known as Block 7, the British C-130J kit installation trials aircraft is set to undertake months of operational test and evaluation (OT&E) work ahead of being further modified by prime contractor Lockheed Martin with additional capabilities known as Block 8.1. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said British flight trials on the Block 8.1 improvements are set to be completed…
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WASHINGTON — Air Force Special Operations command is working with the Navy to leverage lessons learned from the deployment of a shipboard laser weapon system to inform the development of a miniaturized version that could be mounted on an AC-130 gunship. The Air Force plans to install a high-energy laser on the Lockheed Martin special operations gunship by 2020, AFSOC chief Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold said Dec. 3. Heithold announced the pursuit earlier this year, but gave additional details during a presentation at the Association of Old Crows annual symposium in Washington, including the test aircraft to be used in the program. “I believe that we can put a…
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Twenty-one years ago today, a fireball passed over hundreds of 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers at Green Ramp, killing 24 and injuring more than 100 others. It was an otherwise lovely day. A clear blue "Carolina" sky -- the perfect day for a Hollywood jump.But when an F-16 and C-130 collided in the skies over what was then Pope Air Force Base, it sent the jet into the runway, crashing into a C-141 and, ultimately, the paratroopers waiting to jump at Green Ramp.To my knowledge, there's no official ceremony this year. In years past, those have been few and far between.But its a safe bet those involved are turning their thoughts to those lost and what could have been toda…
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A major fire has destroyed much of a factory in Gloucestershire.The blaze began at about midnight in the roof space of Dowty's production facility at Staverton, where propeller systems for aircraft are made. Twenty-nine staff were evacuated from the site and led to safety. No-one was reported as injured.Neil Siddons from GE Aviation, who owns Dowty Propellers, said it had "committed considerable resources" to get the operation back up and running."We are in close contact with our employees, customers, and regulatory authorities," he added.Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service said 80% of the factory building was "severely damaged" by the blaze, which was tackled by 80 f…
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The U.S. Air Force has awarded Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) a $29.6 million contract to install MXF-626K VHF Communications Systems on 178 C-130H Hercules aircraft. The upgrade ensures C-130 radios comply with newly adopted European Air Traffic Management requirements by providing 8.33 kilohertz (kHz) channel spacing in the range of 118 to 137 megahertz (MHz). "In today's complex battlespace, reliable communications is more important than ever before," said Scott Whatmough, vice president of Integrated Communications Systems for Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems business. "Our focus is on ensuring Hercules operators can communicate freely, reliably and secu…
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Military budget constraints prompted the Air Force to again cancel an international military competition typically held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord every other year. The Air Force had been expected to restore its biennial Air Mobility Rodeo at JBLM this summer. It announced Friday that the financial pressures that led it cancel the event in 2013 are again forcing it strike plans for this year’s competition. In past years, the rodeo has brought hundreds of airmen from the U.S. Air Force to JBLM for several days of events testing their abilities against each other and against counterparts from France, Germany, Israel, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. They’re tested on skills ra…
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The Air Force Reserve has responded to allegations that the 440th Airlift Wing was being inactivated through attrition. The allegations arose earlier this month, after members of the unit said they felt they were being hidden ahead of Operation Toy Drop, a large airborne operation that's part multinational training exercise, part toy drive. Airmen and civilian officials close to them alleged the Air Force was discouraging members of the unit from speaking out against the 440th's pending inactivation and going behind Congress' back in making the unit unable to complete its mission to support Fort Bragg soldiers. The allegatio…
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American forces made one of their most effective hits against the Islamic State on Nov. 15, when U.S. planes destroyed 116 tanker trucks used by the terrorist organization to transport the stolen oil that is its financial lifeblood. American A-10 and C-130 warplanes targeted a group of about 300 trucks near Abu Kamal, in Syria. Given that the Islamic State is thought to have just over 1,000 trucks in its entire fleet, the group of 300 represented a huge target for U.S. planes. At a Pentagon news conference last Wednesday, reporters wanted to know why American forces did not take out more than 116 trucks. Why not all 300, or something close to that? A U.S…
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