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| India-Pakistan |
| US plans breakthrough $1.1 billion military plane sale to India |
| 2007-06-02 |
| The Bush administration announced plans to sell India six Lockheed Martin Corp C-130J cargo planes and related gear worth up to $1.1 billion in what would be the first major US military aircraft deal with India. The sale would bolster a "US-Indian strategic relationship that continues to be an important force for political stability, peace and economic progress in South Asia," the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a notice to Congress made public this week. The C-130J Super Hercules would give India "a credible special operations capability that will deter aggression in the region, provide humanitarian airlift capability and ensure interoperability with U.S. forces in coalition operations," said the memo to lawmakers, dated Friday. |
| Posted by:John Frum |
| #8 What staggers me is the unit cost of a C-130: set aside the spare engines, missiles, etc and these suckers must run $150 million each. How long has this plane been around? Jeepers. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2007-06-02 10:42 |
| #7 That didn't come out right. What I meant was that there was probably a cumulative 100% change over the years. |
| Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds 2007-06-02 20:35 |
| #6 Plus each model letter has meant a big change in avionics : the J models have glass cockpits, GPS along with inertial guidance, low-light rear ramp cameras as an option, computer-controlled fuel systems, fly-by-wire, etc. The latest models have very little in common with older models, other than the general design of the aircraft. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2007-06-02 15:51 |
| #5 Well, they got rid of the flight engineer, and they have 6-bladed composite props instead of the 4-bladed aluminum ones. They now have a stretched version in the -30. We have used the civilian L100-30 for years up here. I have chartered 5 of them in the last year for air freighting into remote locations in western Alaska. Brought in 8-ft diameter water filter vessels. It is a great bird! Now over 53 years old. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2007-06-02 12:00 |
| #4 I seriously doubt a 100% re-tooling per year. I doubt even a 10% ... Depends on what you mean by re-tooling (re-design and implement new part designs or implement new tooling) - either way there is NO chance of 100% change over year to year. The purchase cost differences are probably typical accounting per unit cost which fluctuates based on units purchased. |
| Posted by: bombay 2007-06-02 11:58 |
| #3 While there has been "A" C-130 since before i was born, I suspect the current production has few or no parts in common with the original. Probably 100% re-tooled, year by year. |
| Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds 2007-06-02 11:33 |
| #2 An Air Force Technology page devoted to the C-130J states that the OEM engines are Allison AE2100D3 turboprops. This order includes four RR Plc spare engines and eight ATK AN/AAR-47 missile warning systems. |
| Posted by: mrp 2007-06-02 11:13 |
| #1 hmmmm according to this 2005 post, they went from: In 1994, a single C-130H was fetching $37.4 million. The unit cost of the first C-130J models, announced by the Pentagon in 1996, was nearly double: $66.4 million. By 2003 the price had soared to $81 million. This year, the Air Force estimates the unit price of the planes will drop considerably ”to about $66.5 million ” because it plans to buy them in a large multiyear procurement. A stretch version of the C-130J that is 15 feet longer sells for almost $100 million a copy. The Air Force ordered 40 of those last March (2005). |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-06-02 11:03 |