On July 24, the Australian government announced in Canberra that it would procure 20 C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft from the US via the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) as a Foreign Military Sale (FMS) for the RAAF. 20 C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft from manufacturer Lockheed Martin at a cost of the equivalent of 5.8 billion euros. However, delivery will not begin until 2027.
The new aircraft will initially supplement and then replace the current fleet of twelve C-130J-30s, which have been in service since 1999 (around 150,000 flight hours to date). Although the Australian aircraft were only upgraded to the latest Avionics/Navaid Standard Block 8.1 in recent years (for comparison: the latest used and equally old Italian C-130Js currently on offer internationally are on version 6.1), they will now be retired.
According to the Australian Minister for the Defense Industry, Pat Conroy, the most important key criteria for the new procurement were “better self-protection for electronic warfare, better performance and more robust airframes”. He also pointed out the C-130J’s ability to land on “unprepared or partially damaged runways”. Fewer units
24 aircraft were originally requested in November 2022, but now there are four fewer following the outcome of the strategic defense review (more missile systems, more amphibious landing systems, …). This means “only” a single RAAF Hercules squadron, No. 37, at the Richmond base in New South Wales. This will support the RAAF’s eight larger Boeing C-17A (jet) and ten smaller Leonardo C-27J Spartan (two turboprop) and improve logistics and general transport operations thanks to its greater range. https://militaeraktuell.at/wir-muessen-faehigkeitsluecken-schliessen/ Conspicuously long delivery
In terms of the delivery cycle, it is striking that delivery (either stretched out in this way at the RAAF’s request or due to production in Marietta for Indonesia, for example, and still for all three US branches of the armed forces) is not expected to begin until the end of 2027. According to Conroy, only twelve of the total of 20 aircraft will have been delivered by 2030. State-of-the-art equipment
According to a communication to the US Congress, the DSCA authority has approved the following equipment for the Australian C-130J: KYV-5M communications security modules, N/AAQ-24(V)N large aircraft infrared countermeasure systems, AN/AAR-47 missile warning systems, AN/ARN-153 tactical air navigation systems, AN/ARC-210 radios, AN/ALR-56 radar warning receivers, MX-20HD electro-optical/infrared observation and homing systems, and AN/KIV-77 cryptographic friendly-foe identification applications.
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