Lockheed Martin To Develop Two C-130J Variants

Lockheed Martin has announced plans to produce two C-130J variants called the C-130XJ (Expandable J) and the SC-130J (Sea Herc) at the 2012 Singapore Airshow. George Standridge, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics’ vice president of business development said the C-130XJ will retain all the provisions necessary to be fully configured for combat missions. It will keep the current propulsion and avionics suite, and no changes will be made to the current C-130J airframe. The C-130XJ will have the same mission capabilities as the C-130J, including search and rescue, firefighting, surveillance and reconnaissance, signals intelligence and close air support. The SC-130J Sea Herc will offer an affordable replacement for the P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) and anti-submarine warfare aircraft (ASW). “You take the well-proven C-130J and import the P-3 missions into the aircraft for maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare,” Stanbridge said.