Aircraft

Rolls-Royce is to provide long-term support to the UK Royal Air Force’s fleet of 25 Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules tactical transports under a new multi-year deal worth £48 million ($85 million).

Operated by the service’s 24 and 30 Squadrons from RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, the UK’s C-130J fleet has struggled to deliver high availability rates since its introduction in 1999, with spare parts – and engines – occasionally removed from its 10 short-fuselage Hercules C5 versions to maintain operations of its 15 stretched-fuselage C4s.

But service officials say “teething problems” with the C-130J have now been largely overcome and the type “excels in the high-altitude, high-temperature environment” encountered during operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Effective immediately, the new partnering agreement will provide an industry support package for the C-130J’s R-R AE2100D3 turboprop engines until March 2008 and reduce operating costs, says the UK Ministry of Defence.

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