Austria's air force has received its first of three Lockheed Martin C-130K tactical transports to have undergone avionics modernisation in the UK, with its second example due to enter work next month.
Pictured during post-upgrade testing at Marshall Aerospace and Defence's Cambridge airport site in Cambridgeshire, Hercules 8T-CC has received an updated flight management system, replacement autopilot and radar altimeter and new multi-function cockpit displays. One of three surplus transports acquired from the UK Royal Air Force in 2002, the C-130K had entered modification in January 2013.
| |
| Marshall Aerospace |
Marshall Aerospace and Defence chief executive Steve Fitz-Gerald says the delivery milestone keeps the company "on track to have all three aircraft upgraded and returned to service by early 2015". This is in line with a contractual schedule agreed with the Austrian air force in October 2011.
"The next aircraft scheduled for the avionics upgrade will arrive in Cambridge in early September 2013," the company says.
Austria's second-hand Hercules originally entered service with the RAF between 1967 and 1968, says Flightglobal's Ascend Online Fleets database.
Source: Flight International
