FEC130

You may be right, might have been Blk 20 they were transitioning to during Desert Storm.

Unless I am mistaken, The EC-130's were in a transition to Blk 30 during Desert Storm. I was with the EC then. Of course that has been a while and the ole noggin doesn't work like it use to.

There are still a couple of small areas with the wood floor. With all the construction and upgrades to B-1 building I am guess those will be gone soon.

Back when Lockheed had a simulator at Marietta, I was with St. Lucia Airways and we had some sim sessions there. I remember a tour of that facility and there was something unique about the floor. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Don R.

Would that be the wooden block floor?

Actually that would be 45 mil more. As a 22 year legacy FE I hate to say it, but the J is here to stay and the future.

Great. I put your post on the Air Force Blues site and came under a lot of criticism because of no source. Problem with those guys is that they're all "new" AF, except for a few, and those few are know-it-all officers with 15 yrs or less in.

Plus, their "war" has been going on for 10 years with multiple deployments - to hear tell oh how they're suffering..... Hard to compare their war, with 4,000 casualties to VN with how many, 58K if I remember correctly.

Plus-plus, they've got cell phones, computers, etc., to speak with their families whenever they want. What did we have? I only talked with my wife once from RVN over the MARS(?) system.

Don't compare yesterdays war with today’s, Yes they have technology that some of us didn’t have in the past. These young men and women today are still serving our country and deserve respect as much as those who served in the past.

Dont compare, they are still seving!!!!!

With the cost of the AMP and a center wing replacement kit, might as well buy the new C130XJ.

The Navy / Coast Guard / Air Force 87-0157 (LPN 5121) "Roto Dome" airplane is a NC-130H. We flew it as a test bed for many different mod applications at Edwards AFB when it belonged to the USAF.

Yea, who knows, it maybe a fake. I couldn't find anything either after both of you mentioned it. Guess time will tell.

At least thats what the article says, it was sent to me from another source.

Defense News, 5/9/2011

USAF Axes C-130 AMP Upgrades

By DAVE MAJUMDAR

The U.S. Air Force has effectively canceled the Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) Phase II for the C-130 Hercules, allocating no money in the 2012 budget request nor in the Pentagon’s Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP).

The Boeing-led program was to have improved communications, navigation and air-traffic man¬agement systems on special-mission C-130s, in¬cluding EC-130s, LC-130s and most MC-130s.

Without the modifications, the planes will not meet stringent international and domestic air-traf¬fic control standards due to go into effect around 2020.

The service had previously reduced the number of planes to be modified from 166 to 102.

“In the FY12 [budget proposal], the Air Force did not fund Boeing’s [Communications, Naviga¬tion, and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management] solution (AMP Phase II) for the AF’s C/AC/EC/HC/LC/MC-130 Special Mission fleets,†the service said in a statement.

Dan Goure, an analyst at the Lexington Insti¬tute, Arlington, Va, called the move a precursor to a formal termination notice.

“They wanted to cancel it out in 2009; it was just too expensive,†Goure said.

But Congress must ratify the Air Force decision, and some sort of agreement could be reached for the legislative body to keep the money flowing, Goure said.

Goure said that Boeing is likely to fight the ter¬mination of the program, which comes after a string of other cancellations, the most prominent being the C-17 airlifter.

“I think they’ll put pressure on the administra¬tion,†he said.

Boeing had not responded to requests for com¬ment by press time.

The Air Force had opted to replace those air¬craft with new Lockheed Martin C-130Js, accord¬ing to Air Force budget documents.

But, Goure said, the program was expensive and required extensive rework of the aircraft’s cockpit, and it was not clear whether the Air Force depots could handle that much work.

The current long-term plan is to replace the HC-130 and MC-130 fleets with C-130J derivatives, but the Air Force has not yet decided what to do about upgrading its other older C-130s.

“The Air Force is investigating options for up¬grading the legacy aircraft that will not be recap¬italized prior to 2020, when the much stricter In¬ternational/[Federal Aviation Administration] air¬space mandates go into effect,†the service’s state¬ment said.

Goure said the Air Force would like to go with a less expensive upgrade plan. Ë

Yep, knew Billy Spiece well. We were in the 41st and then we transitioned to the 43rd when they split the squadron. Lost touch after he retired.

Most of you are correct, however we (yes I was the FE on the plane) were going to Bangor Maine to RON. The next day we were scheduled to depart for England. This incident happened over upper New York, and yes it was inflight. Gear Box came apart at 22,000ft if I remember correctly, happened in September 1988/89 (long time ago). Took out number 4 engine. Did a two engine landing at Pease AFB. Melted the right brakes stopping the airplane. That’s the short story. By the way that second picture with the intake plug was from another incident.

http://www.lockheedmartingiftshop.com/

It’s obvious not many people on this thread have C-130J experience. Like the airplane or not it's here to stay.

Back in the early 80's you had to come from a mechanical background to cross train into the FE career field.

LOCKHEED MARTIN GETS $827.4M AIR FORCE CONTRACT: Lockheed Martin received a $827.4 million contract from the Air Force for three Air Force C-130J, four HC-130J and four MC-130J aircraft, the Defense Department said late Friday. (Associated Press, 10/16)

Is it true that some of the Js are in for wing boxes also?

As of recent the J will come off the production line with the ESL (Extended Service Life)wing box.

Better now than later. As much as some people hate the "J", its the way to go. Its more than just the amp, what about the price of the centerwing box. Add all these bandaids up and its not cheap to keep these birds flying.

KC-130J gunship is still a go.

[i]\"In December 1996, an Air Force Reserve C-130 plunged into the Pacific Ocean, killing all but one crew member. An extensive investigation revealed that a mechanical glitch caused a four-engine rollback. It, too, was believed to be tied to a failure in the electrical system. But that failure caused a total loss of power, while the Arkansas crew only lost partial power.\"

This is also, not true!

The J model standard is the Stretch version. The short is mostly for tankers and special mission birds.IE WC, EC etc.