Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON, DC
Nobody has done a tour on this scale, according to Lockheed Martin international business development vice-president Rick Hundley, who claims to have "kissed the ground" at Marietta, Georgia, when he and the C-130J Hercules 2 completed their marathon sales drive on 27 June.
The world tour cost the company $1.8-1.9 million, which Hundley describes as "very reasonable", and has generated several prospects for near-term sales of the C-130J. "The most effective marketing tool is to get people to see the aircraft," he says. "The best way to do that was the take the aircraft to them."
First, the statistics: the five-month tour took in 32 countries; 379 guest pilots and 2,446 passengers were flown on 130 demonstration flights; 161h of demonstrations were flown and a total of 400h accumulated on the aircraft, a US Air Force C-130J.
Maintenance required "on the road" was less than 2h per flight hour, says Hundley. Lockheed Martin is still calculating the total maintenance required, including that performed once the aircraft had returned to Marietta, but Hundley believes will be "considerably less" than the budgeted 10h per flight hour.
"We took more maintenance people than we needed," he says. Only one part had to be replaced to keep the aircraft flying - an O-ring that was installed wrongly at the vendor and became frayed. Other parts were replaced during the tour, but that was optional, he says. "We had nothing else to do, so we replaced them."
SALES GAUGE
Although the aircraft performed well and was received enthusiastically wherever it went, Hundley says the success of the tour will be gauged by sales generated. So far, the company has submitted 19 priced proposals as a result of the tour and, by the year-end, it expects to have made bids to 28 of the 32 countries visited.
These figures may overstate the prospects for near-term sales because at each stop on the tour, says Hundley, Lockheed Martin presented a basic proposal, preprinted but tailored for each potential customer. Each country had to express a desire to received a follow-up priced proposal, validated and tailored more specifically to the country, he says.
"We don't know how soon we will see results," adds Hundley. "We expect results this calendar year, and more in 1999 and 2000. This is not a short-term process." Lockheed Martin weighted the scales in its favour by targeting countries considered high- or medium-probability prospects for C-130J sales, but several of those nations visited can only be considered long-term possibilities.
Examples of the latter, says Hundley, include Chile, where the aircraft was displayed at the FIDAE airshow; Denmark, which "wants the aircraft" but is three years away from a procurement; and Malaysia, which has deferred its transport and airborne early warning (AEW) requirements for two to three years because of the economic downturn.
The tour also took in countries that have already bought the C-130J. A stop in Australia, for example, was designed to advance the chances of that country exercising its priced options for additional aircraft to meet its AEW requirement. Lockheed Martin leads one of three teams expecting to receive the request for proposals for AEW aircraft in late August or early September. "We flew the right people," believes Hundley.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Most of the countries visited want a transport aircraft, but some, like Australia, have special mission requirements. In those cases, special demonstrations were conducted to show the C-130J's ability to perform roles such as AEW, and, in Israel for example, to prove its suitability for low-level operations. Other mission capabilities demonstrated included air dropping, search and rescue and aerial refuelling.
One of the areas of interest to several countries was the C-130J's capability for peacekeeping and relief missions, says Hundley. Here the issue is how quickly the aircraft can land, unload and take off in a potentially hostile environment. Hundley says the C-130J has the ability "-to get down quickly, land short on a semi-improved runway, offload with the engines at full power, then take off and climb rapidly". He adds: "We tell people that the C-130J flies higher, faster, further and smarter [than previous Hercules], but it also flies safer."
In most of the countries visited, the competition facing the C-130J is the operators' existing Hercules, says Hundley. "Each country has to make a business case for buying the new aircraft rather than keeping the older aircraft. We can demonstrate that the C-130J will pay for itself in far less than half its useful life." Nevertheless, several countries are considering upgrading their existing Hercules.
Although the sales tour is complete, the protracted development programme is not. The final hurdle before certification of the C-130J is natural icing tests now under way in Argentina. US Federal Aviation Administration certification is expected at the end of July, clearing the way for first deliveries of the aircraft to the Royal Air Force in early August and the Royal Australian Air Force in late October or early November.
Lockheed Martin has built about 40 of the 83 aircraft on firm order - 55 for international customers and 28 for the US Department of Defense. The company is offering new customers delivery within two years of a contract, with aircraft available from 2000.
ITALIAN CONNECTION
Having launched the C-27J joint venture with Alenia to provide offset for Italy's purchase of C-130Js, Lockheed Martin is finding that potential customers are looking increasingly at operating the aircraft side-by-side.
Several of the countries visited on the recent C-130J world tour also have requirements for C-27J-class aircraft, and the commonality in avionics and propulsion systems between the two could become a major factor in their procurement decisions, believes Cesare Gianni, president of Lockheed Martin Alenia Tactical Transport Systems (LMATTS).
The C-27J already shares the C-130J's Allison AE2100 turboprop engines and Dowty six-blade propellers. The same digital avionics architecture is used, albeit "depopulated" in the C-27J, with less integration and capability but 60% commonality with the C-130J in line-replaceable units and 80% in software.
Gianni says extensive windtunnel testing has been conducted to avoid the stall problem experienced with the C-130J and caused by the change in airflow over the wing resulting from the new propellers. "We have excluded the possibility of surprises in flight test," he says.
The first C-27J prototype, a modified G222, is scheduled to fly at Alenia in Turin, Italy, next spring to test the propulsion system and flight controls.
The second prototype will fly before the end of 1999 and will be the first with full avionics. A third, production, aircraft will join the flight-test programme in early spring 2000.
The C-27J is to be civil-certificated to European JAR 25 standards, says Gianni. The original G222 received only restricted-category certification, "-so this is not a minor effort, but we do not think it is high risk", he says, noting that engines and avionics will have been certificated on the C-130J by then.
LMATTS is "protecting delivery" of the first aircraft in spring 2001 and intends to gain civil certification and military qualification by the end of 2000. An offer has been made already to one unnamed customer and Australia is expected to issue a request for proposals in mid-August. Two further competitions are expected to get under way soon after: in Brazil for 20 aircraft, and in Greece for 15 aircraft.
The C-27J is aimed at the requirement for an aircraft that can carry a 10t payload 1,800km (1,000nm), which Gianni says has proved to be "-much more than a niche, and a real market opportunity". The increased value of the C-130J has created the need for a complementary aircraft, he says.
"Essentially, the C-27J has one-third to one-half the capability of the C-130J," says Gianni, "although the aircraft will be priced more aggressively."
Source: Flight International
