Iraq is to acquire the remaining two of its planned six C-130J-30 tactical transports, under a $140 million contract agreed via the US Air Force.
Announced by the US Department of Defense on 11 August, the deal with Lockheed Martin will boost Baghdad's previous order for four new-generation Hercules. Iraq in July 2008 requested a six-aircraft deal worth about $1.5 billion through the US government's Foreign Military Sales framework.
The DoD says Iraq's follow-on order includes "non-recurring engineering and integration tasks associated with the new Iraq-peculiar configuration". The country's original FMS request was for "USAF-baseline aircraft", and Lockheed says it has merely to finalise some exact subsystem requirements for the aircraft, as its contracts are still to be fully defined.
This process will also confirm the delivery schedule for the Iraqi air force's first J-model Hercules. The new aircraft will boost the service's current fleet of three ex-US Air Force C-130Es, introduced since the removal from power of former president Saddam Hussein.
Source: Flight International
