Jump to content

C-130 News: Lockheed Martin upbeat on LM-100J prospects


casey
 Share

Recommended Posts

Lockheed Martin is giving a Paris air show debut to its new LM-100J commercial freighter, less than a month after its maiden sortie.

Parked on the static display, the turboprop-powered aircraft is designed as a replacement for the 115 L-100 freighters the company delivered in the 1964-1992 period.

Lockheed first flew the Rolls-Royce AE 2100D3-powered type on 25 May, and is already well on the way to wrapping up its test effort, with the US Federal Aviation Administration becoming involved "by August", says LM-100J chief test pilot Wayne Roberts.

2017-06-18 LMJ.jpg

Lockheed Martin is giving a Paris air show debut to its new LM-100J commercial freighter, less than a month after its maiden sortie.

Parked on the static display, the turboprop-powered aircraft is designed as a replacement for the 115 L-100 freighters the company delivered in the 1964-1992 period.

Lockheed first flew the Rolls-Royce AE 2100D3-powered type on 25 May, and is already well on the way to wrapping up its test effort, with the US Federal Aviation Administration becoming involved "by August", says LM-100J chief test pilot Wayne Roberts.

All test flights should be "done by year-end", he says, leading to FAA certification early next year, followed by delivery to an undisclosed launch customer.

Roberts, who was aboard for the first flight, says: "It flies as wonderfully as it always has. For 60 years, it has operated into some of the shortest runways in the world.

"It still does that extremely well, but it now has new avionics and engines too."

Essentially a tweaked version of the C-130J tactical transport, the civil freighter benefits from the over 20 years and 1.5 million flight hours of the military model.

In addition, features such as night-vision-goggle and air-drop capability will be transferred across to the LM-100J, although these will not be certificated initially.

And although the C-130J is offered in both long- and short-fuselage variants, the freighter will only be sold in its longer, 34.37m (112ft 9in) guise.

So far, Lockheed has amassed five firm orders from an undisclosed customer, as well tentative commitments of 10 aircraft each from ASL Aviation Group and Brazil's Bravo Industries.

As well as cargo transport, Lockheed sees potential for the LM-100J to perform a number of missions including aerial firefighting, search and rescue, and VIP transport.

"The C-130J can support 17 different missions and the LM-100J can support 13 of those," adds Roberts.

Source: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/paris-lockheed-martin-upbeat-on-lm-100j-prospects-438339/

 

 

 


View full article

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...