C130J
Not wishing to get involved in the J/K argument I was a member of the Hercules Airworthiness Review Team before I retired from the RAF. This was to review the K as the J was already behind schedule for service entry and the frames were piling up at Marshalls. One aspect of our TORs was to visit the J procurement mafia at Abbey Wood and ask about aspects of the J that had caused concern on the K . One of these was cargo compartment noise. (There were many others ). After much prevarication they eventually admitted that the noise level would be SIGNIFICANTLY higher than on the K but were unable to provide us with figures. Nor could they provide an in service date for the J. We predicted in the report that the K was likely to have to run on longer than anticipated and this would have an airworthiness impact unless urgent steps were taken, mainly in the provision of spares. I suspect there was no provision for funding this, but the current problems with the K can, I believe, but directly traced to the fact that the J was over 2 years late entering RAF service.