At the beginning of the year, Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner drew attention to the fact that the successor to the Hercules transport aircraft was already being considered and that a working group had been set up for this purpose.
The three ex-RAF C-130Ks of the Austrian Armed Forces were built in 1967/68, had around 20,000 flying hours each when they were taken over and will have to be decommissioned by the end of the decade at the latest. Both newly built and used solutions are available as replacements, as Brigadier Erich Weissenböck, Head of the Structural Planning Department at the Ministry of Defense, where the working group is based, explains in an interview with Militär Aktuell.
Mr. Brigadier, what exactly is being surveyed and evaluated in the working group with regard to the planned C-130 replenishment?
It is about the capability portfolio “air transport area” based on the profile variants and also about an initial investment forecast for maintaining the operational capability of the C-130K air transport system until the currently intended end of its service life.
And that’s around 2030?
Maximum, provided nothing unforeseen happens to the system. However, if shorter-term solutions or options arise, this can also be earlier. The aim is to secure the required portfolio of capabilities.
How far do you look “outside the box” in this respect? Specifically, what other countries are doing and what will be available on the market in the foreseeable future? Such as C-390s, newer used C-130s or even A400Ms?
Far. An analysis of military air transport in relevant European reference nations is carried out. But also a market analysis of available and foreseeable military air transport systems from security-politically feasible providers …
“Feasible in terms of security policy” means that Antonov or Xi’an are not an issue?
We are not there yet.
Is joint procurement with other countries also conceivable?
Certainly. One of the agendas we have to pursue is the exploration of upcoming comparable armaments projects of relevant partner nations and, in this context, the discussion of possible government-to-government procurements. This also involves current and future cooperation opportunities in terms of availability with European partner nations within the EU and with
security policy institutions in the field of air transport.
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