C-130 News: Sweden mothballs quarter of C-130H fleet, looks to type replacement

[casey]

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-130H aircraft in 1965, the SwAF had hoped to have them upgraded as part of the US Air Force’s wider Avionics Modernization Program (AMP). However, Sweden had already pulled out of the program on cost grounds by the time it was cancelled by the US Department of Defense in early 2012.

Regarding a replacement platform, Col Bjorkgren said that the Lockheed Martin C-130J would make for greater interoperability with Sweden’s Nordic neighbors, with Norway and Denmark already operating the type. The Embraer KC-390 was raised as an option, given Brazil’s recent decision to acquire the Saab Gripen E/F fighter, and he also noted that used Airbus A400M airlifters might become available in a few years.

The C-130 replacement will be formally launched from about 2021 and will run parallel to attempts to replace the Saab 105 trainer jet and the RBS 15 anti-ship missile.

The SwAF’s effort to find a replacement for its C-130s will follow a wider drive to improve its capabilities out to the end of this decade. The latest Swedish defense bill sets out a budget increase of SEK10.2 billion (USD1.2 billion) from 2016 to 2020, a timeframe which will see a reorganization of the SwAF’s structure to four wings and six fighter squadrons (up from the four squadrons at present); an increase in the availability of the transport aircraft fleet; an increase in the SwAF’s ability to disperse aircraft to and between ‘war bases'; a focus on getting the NHIndustries NH90 helicopter fully operational; acquiring a new anti-ship missile for helicopters; perhaps increasing the number of Gripen E fighters to be procured from 60 to 70 (with a decision to come); acquiring a stand-off missile for the Gripen E; increasing the availability of operational units with more flight hours; and upgrading sensor and radar systems.

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Edited May 9, 2015 by Casey