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With the RAAF’s C-130J medium transport fleet having recently completed a significant block upgrade, planning is under way for another such capability enhancement but a third is likely to be deferred for at least two years.

Such rolling updates through the life of the aircraft are intended to address deficiencies, equipment obsolescence and new requirements.

Airworthiness certification for Block 6.1 was achieved for the RAAF’s 12 C-130Js in mid-2012.

This block involved the introduction of takeoff and landing data enhancements and a ground avoidance warning system with both audio and visual cues. 

Block 6.1 also includes a PC-based Data Transfer and Diagnostics System (DTADS) to improve aircraft diagnostics and health management, including Australian-developed propeller balancing software.

The upgrade also included modifications to the auxiliary hydraulics pumps to allow operation of the cargo ramp and door at altitudes of up to 35,000 feet compared to the previous limit of 17,000 feet.

While the first aircraft was upgraded by Lockheed Martin at its Marietta, Georgia facility, the other 11 C-130Js were modified by contractor Australian Aerospace at RAAF Richmond, a procedure carried out on a nose-to-tail basis which took about four weeks for each aircraft.

Total cost to Australia of the Block 6.1 reconfiguration, according to Group Captain Andrew Doyle, Officer Commanding Airlift Systems Program Office, was $30 million.

“We achieved a very successful teaming arrangement between the operating squadron and Australian Aerospace,” GPCAPT Doyle told ADM.

“Some of the aircraft were modified during heavy maintenance periods; the rest of the modification schedule was optimised so it didn’t impact on squadron operations.”

Block 6.1 was the first such upgrade to involve collaborative development – and shared financing – with the US by Australia, Denmark, Italy and the UK, the four early international operators of the C-130J.

These four countries, as founder members of the C-130J Joint User Group (JUG), joined with the US in 2003 in forming the Cooperative Systems and Software Requirement Management (COSSURM) process.

This gives members the ability to share in requirements definition, and development.  Common costs are shared proportionality to the user’s fleet size – in the case of Australia, about 6.5 per cent since expansion of the JUG to include Canada and Norway.

A further nine countries are now either operating C-130Js or have them on order but are not part of the JUG, membership of which is determined by the existing partner nations.

“If the nations in a joint users group have differing political views, or even operational differences on how they operate the aircraft it could slow the upgrade path considerably,” said a source close to the program. “There’s a very disciplined process on how a new country can be inducted into the JUG.”

Block upgrade program


In 2006 the same countries signed a US$110 million contract with Lockheed Martin for development, design, test and integration of Block 6.1 capabilities – the first of an intended three block upgrade initiative.

Work got underway on the Block 7.0 configuration in 2009 and flight trials began in 2011. More than 300 flight hours had been completed as of July and the final version of Block 7.0 common core software – the element co-funded by the JUG – was scheduled to be signed off in August.

The block involves a new flight management system, Link 16 tactical datalink capability, fully civil-certified GPS systems that meet international air traffic management compliance requirements, and a special processor interface providing open architecture flexibility for both software and hardware.

Other enhancements include a new ground power mode which allows the aircraft to conserve energy on the ground, and to power up quickly with limited systems should a speedy take-off be required.

The USAF and RAF now each have one first-of-fleet upgraded by Lockheed Martin in Marietta, and work will shortly begin on the initial Italian Air Force aircraft.

Early next year an RAAF C-130J will arrive in Marietta for about six months, a period which will include Block 7.0 installation and flight testing. Unique capabilities requested by some countries (but not Australia) result in subtle changes in configuration, complicating installation procedures.

Successful installation will be followed by operational test and evaluation in Australia, airworthiness certification, and a start on modification at RAAF Richmond of the rest of the fleet. This seems likely to be carried out by Australian Aerospace as an adjunct to its current through-life support contract.

Kanwal Mahal, Lockheed Martin’s director of C-130 Worldwide Fleet Support, told ADM the upgrade could take from two to three months per platform.

“It’s not a trivial modification. There’s wiring associated with the new flight management system, external antennas associated with that, a new line-replaceable unit, modifications to the yoke of the aircraft, and updates to ground mode hardware as well as software.”

The RAAF’s C-130Js will be fitted for but not with Link 16, ie with the required wiring, but not the equipment.

“This won’t affect interoperability to any significant degree in the near term; there are still a lot of legacy platform operated by coalition partners that won’t have Link 16 for some time yet,” commented GPCAPT Doyle.

Funding of $61 million under Project Air 5440 Ph1 covers Australia’s share of Block 7.0 common core software development, installation in the first aircraft and acquisition of the modification kits for the remaining aircraft, but not their installation.

It also covers common core software development costs for Block 8.1, the critical design review for which was completed in early August.

Again funded by the JUG, Block 8.1 covers commercial air traffic data link capability, a secure digital intercommunication system, and crypto-secure IFF transponder Mode 5.  It will also include a precision approach capability, mission computer upgrades, additional covert lighting, and compliance with TEMPEST, a classified set of US standards for limiting electrical or electromagnetic radiation from electronic equipment.

Installation of the first aircraft with Block 8.1 will potentially be deferred in the Defence Capability Plan from 2015 to around 2017 to balance the number of C-130J aircraft undergoing upgrades, with the ongoing operational tasking requirements.  GPCAPT Doyle said subsequent aircraft are likely to be upgraded to Block 8.1 around 2019-20 “which is still earlier than the bulk of USAF aircraft”.

According to Lockheed Martin’s Mahal, a so-called Capability Management Update following Block 8.1 will primarily be a software upgrade taking into account scheduled mandates for airspace movement and separation, primarily in Europe.

But with changing threats and customers’ requests for additional capability, something similar to a mid-life upgrade was likely “further downstream”.

In separate developments, trials involving the AN/ALR-56M radar warning receivers fitted to the C-130J fleet late last year will get underway shortly, GPCAPT Doyle advised.

And he confirmed that the first RAAF C-130J would be fitted with the LAIRCM (Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures) system in 2015 under Project Air 5416 Ph4B.2. The system’s original entry to service was to have been 2012.

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