PAUL LEWIS / WASHINGTON DC
Updated tankers for special operations helicopters needed as old age and battle stress take toll on existing fleet
The US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) is studying the acquisition of additional in-flight refuelling tankers to support US Army and USAF helicopters, as advancing age and operational attrition take their toll on the existing fleet of Lockheed Martin MC-130E/H Combat Talon I/IIs.
AFSOC has a requirement for up to 54 "Combat Talon IIIs" starting around 2006-07, say industry sources attending the recent Aerial Refuelling System Advisory Group annual conference in Indianapolis, USA. Fuelling the need for extra tankers is a planned expansion of the US Army's 160th Special Operations Air Regiment and the equipping of more helicopters with in-flight refuelling probes (Flight International, 20-26 August).
AFSOC chief of tactics, Lt Col Lantz Balthazar, says AFSOCis conducting a MC-X analysis of options in parallel with an AC-X study of a follow-on gunship platform to the AC-130H/U. A further derivative of the C-130J is among the options being considered and Lockheed Martin confirms it is "in dialogue with the air force for both the AC-X and MC-X missions".
AFSOC's tanker fleet includes 14 MC-130Es, which were first deployed in 1966 during the Vietnam War with a primary mission to infiltrate and exfiltrate special forces behind enemy lines.
The more modern MC-130H is being similarly modified to provide an air-to-air refuelling capability, but the recent crash of two aircraft in Afghanistan and Puerto Rico has reduced the fleet to 22 Combat Talon IIs. It also operates another 28 MC-130P Combat Shadow tankers converted from HC-130P/Ns.
The latter Combat Talon II and Combat Shadow aircraft are earmarked to be upgraded as part of the Boeing C-130 Avionics Modernisation Programme between 2007 and 2012. Lockheed Martin Systems Integration Owego is meanwhile modernising the power distribution system of 12 MC-130s.
Source: Flight International
