Germany Plans To Buy US$966 Million Worth Six Lockheed C-130J Aircraft

Germany has plans to buy six Lockheed Martin C-130J military transport planes for around US$966 Million starting in 2019 under a joint operating agreement with France.

Germany and France first began working on the deal in October and announced broad outlines of their plans in February at a meeting of the NATO alliance, part of a broader push to increase European defence cooperation, Reuters reported Saturday.

The German finance and defence ministries provided first concrete details about the cost of the aircraft and 110 million euros in additional costs for infrastructure and training simulators in documents sent to lawmakers, who must approve the funding for the planned German-French agreement.

The German finance ministry said Berlin would formally request procurement of the airplanes in 2019, according to the documents seen by Reuters.

France has already ordered four aircraft and plans to buy two more for the fleet, which is to be based in Evreux, France and operated jointly by both countries, the documents showed.

France would match Germany's spending of 110 million euros for infrastructure improvements at the air base and to buy simulators for joint training, they said. The joint fleet is to be ready for use by 2021.

The simulators for the C-130J were built by Canadian CAE and official discussions with Canadian authorities about the procurement were planned in 2017, German defence ministry told lawmakers.

The German air force were intially keen to buy up to 12 C-130J military transports itself for the joint fleet so it could operate some in France, and set up a second base in Germany, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The defence ministry settled on buying six aircraft, citing financial constraints, but several sources said the issue could be revisited in coming years.