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Well, that was a first for me. I don’t think I have attended a media briefing on an aircraft before, and certainly not a US Air Force one.

The aircraft in question was a C-130J Super Hercules – one of those big transport aircraft that you see often in war zones, or involved in relief efforts. This one had just returned from a tour in Iraq and has previously operated in Afghanistan.

The beast was on the ground at the Farnborough Air Show but that did not detract from the oddity of sitting on one of the red canvas seats lined along the sides of the aircraft to hear about the aircraft and its deployment.

The rear cargo door was open so, although we were in fact at zero altitude, it felt curiously as if we were about to be tipped out of the back in parachutes.

Although air forces around the world are under heavy budget pressure and cannot afford all the aircraft they want, the Super Hercules is much in demand. Its ability to lift and deposit troops and cargo in all kinds of terrain suits the times.

The Super Hercules, an upgrade of previous Hercules models, has been in service for six years and Lockheed Martin, which makes it, has orders for 221, of which it has delivered 63 so far.

The aircraft started in service with the UK and Italian air forces in 2002 and, in the last year, Norway, Canada and India have placed orders.

We were told about this one by Major Chad Gibson of the USAF, who proved to have an adept turn of phrase. He described the aircraft’s capacity to take off much more rapidly than previous models as making it fly “like a homesick angel”.

One of its main uses in Iraq and Afghanistan is to obviate the need for road convoys by taking supplies by air. It can take the equivalent of 60 truck loads.

July 15th, 2008 in Aerospace | Permalink