Large orders from the US government for Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules transport and multimission aircraft are helping the manufacturer keep down the acquisition costs for the aircraft for all customers. At the end of last year, Washington placed a multiyear contract for 78 C-130Js, plus options, of which seven have so far been exercised, taking the order to 85 so far.

"This gives economies of scale, big time," Lockheed Martin International VP business development, air mobility and maritime missions Rich Johnston told Engineering News Online at the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) 2016 exhibition on Thursday. "The cost of the C-130J has not escalated for five or six years. And we're continually driving costs out of the programme."

Furthermore, these US orders help ensure that the aircraft will be manufactured for a long time yet. "We're likely to produce this aircraft for decades to come." So far, 360 C-130Js have been delivered to customers around the world. And more customers are likely to order it in the coming years.

The company is marketing the C-130J, and particularly the stretched C-130J-30 version, to the South African Air Force to replace its current first generation (but upgraded) C-130BZ Hercules. "The C-130BZs are 53 years old – they're 1963 models," he pointed out. "They're modernised, but the airframes are still 53 years old."

At a presentation at AAD 2016, Johnston discussed a South African-centered operational scenario to show the advantages of the C-130J over earlier model Hercules. The scenario involved the transport of 1 000 troops, 24 freight pallets and 60 wheeled vehicles from Air Force Base Waterkloof, just south of Pretoria (and, coincidentally, the site of AAD), to Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo – a distance of 1 500 nautical miles.

The scenario involved two contingents, an initial deployment of 200 troops, 24 freight pallets and 20 Samil trucks, and a follow-on deployment of 800 troops, 20 Mamba mine-protected vehicles and 20 Gecko military all-terrain vehicles. Using three C-130H (pretty much equivalent to the upgraded C-130BZs) this scenario would require 30 sorties and about 135 flying hours, with a total required time of about ten days. Using three of the stretched C-130J-30s, it would require 20 sorties, 80 flying hours and a total of about seven days. This amounts to reductions of some 30% in each case; fuel consumption would also be cut by 30%. Total costs would be some 48% less.