The Turkish air force's first of 13 Lockheed Martin C-130 transports scheduled to undergo avionics modernisation has been delivered to Turkish Aerospace Industries for a 30-month prototype phase.
Launched in January 2007, Ankara's "Erciyes" project will take a total of 56 months to complete, and involves installing glass cockpits in six C-130Bs and seven C-130Es, the latter of which models entered Turkish service from 1964. TAI will modernise the programme's first two aircraft, with the remainder to be completed at the air force's Kayseri maintenance centre.
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© Turkish Aerospace Industries |
Revealing that TAI hopes to offer similar upgrade packages to other regional operators of the Hercules, general manager Muharrem Dortkasli says: "With the Erciyes project, we aim to enter the C-130 modernisation market." The company is the main supplier of navigation system and mission computer software upgrades for the Turkish programme.
TAI expects the modernisation effort to extend operations of Turkey's C-130s by up to a further 20 years. The type will be augmented from early next decade by the air force's future 10 Airbus Military A400Ms.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
