Wing Work To Extend Life of U.K. Airlifters - Defense News
LONDON - Part of the Royal Air Force's (RAF) C-130K Hercules fleet is to be refurbished with a new outer wing in a deal signed recently with Canadian aerospace company Spar.
Work on the wing refurbishment has already begun at Spar's Edmonton facility in Canada. The first aircraft contracted for by the British is scheduled to be delivered to the RAF in the third quarter of next year.
Spar, a subsidiary of L-3 Communications, will undertake the life extension work on three aircraft in an $18 million deal announced Aug. 19. The deal could be extended to include more C-130Ks. A company spokesman said it is "possible the U.K. will need more C-130 modifications like this."
Britain's Hercules project leader, RAF Group Capt. Mark Hobbs, says replacing the outer wings will extend the life of a number of essential operational aircraft to meet their planned out-of-service dates.
The L-3 spokesman said the work being undertaken by Spar is expected to extend the aircraft's life by about 15,000 hours.
The spokesman said that Spar, which has modified and maintained more than 300 Hercules in Canada, is working closely with Marshall of Cambridge, the U.K. C-130 design authority, to meet airworthiness standards.
The British C-130K and J fleets have been heavily used in ongoing deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq. The C-130K fleet was due to start being withdrawn in 2010, but that has been put back until at least 2012 following problems with its replacement, the Airbus A400M airlifter.