The Royal Australian Air Force is to reduce the number of operational hours flown by its Lockheed Martin C-130H/J Hercules transports by one-third on current year flying hour targets. In parallel, the service has forecast that its Boeing C-17s, the first of which is planned to enter service late this year, will fly at least 750h a year to partially offset the reductions, writes Peter La Franchi.
Budget papers for Australia’s 2006-7 financial year released during May show that the C-130 fleet is forecast to achieve a total of 10,000 flying hours for the period. This represents a 5,000h reduction on May 2005 budget forecasts for the current financial year, and a 4,000h cut on the forecasts for the type released by the Australian government in February as part of its budget additional estimates process.
The FY06-7 budget papers indicate that at least two C-17s will enter service during the financial year, although the second will only arrive at the very end of the budget period. They also reveal that new government funding is only being provided for A$1.9 billion ($1.4 billion) of the expected A$2.2 billion, initial six-year cost of the deal.
The Australian Department of Defense is required to finance C-17 payments from FY11-14 by recovering A$335 million from current forward funding allocations to upgrade or replace its 12 C-130Hs.
The budget papers confirm that both first and second pass government funding approvals for the C-17 were provided by the Australian Cabinet National Security Committee on 1 March, with the project having been “expedited due to the pressing need for this capability to support Australian Defence Force operations”.
The accelerated schedule is also possible due to the “off-the-shelf” nature of the C-17 acquisition, they add.
Source: Flight International
