C-130 Hercules with Avionics Upgrade and ILS Acquisition Project of the Philippine Air Force
As the Philippine Air Force push to improve its overall airlift and transport capabilities with the limited funds allocated to them, the service has included the acquisition of surplus but refurbished Lockheed C-130 Hercules heavy tactical transport aircraft from the US government as part of its shopping list under the Horizon 2 phase priority projects of the Revised AFP Modernization Program covering Fiscal Years 2018 to 2022.
Being an existing and long-time user of the C-130 Hercules, the PAF found it logical and practical to purchase surplus C-130 aircraft with its meager budget, rather than push for brand new, similar sized aircraft.
Project Summary:
C-130H Hercules with Avionics Upgrade and ILS Acquisition Project
Note: edit as of 27 December 2020
* End User: Philippine Air Force (220th Airlift Wing)
* Quantity: 2 aircraft
* Modernization Phase: Horizon 2 Phase of RAFPMP
* Project ABC: Php2,080,000,000.00
* Acquisition Mode: US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and Foreign Military Financing (FMF) Program
* Source of Funding: Majority through GAA Funds through AFP Modernization Program Trust Fund, paid via Multi-Year Obligatory Allocations (MYOA), and US FMF funding.
* SARO Release: TBA
* Winning Proponent: US Department of Defense
* Product for Delivery: C-130H Hercules heavy tactical transport aircraft, refurbished and upgraded by US-designated contractor.
* Contract Price: approx. Php2,500,000,000.00, but PAF only paid only US$35,603,026.00 (approx Php1,780,000,000.00).
* First post by MaxDefense: 15 August 2018
* MaxDefense Searching Hashtag/s: #PAFC130Acqisition
* Status: Originally scheduled for delivery starting early 2019, delays pushed delivery to 2020. DND confirmed delivery of 1st aircraft by July 2020, 2nd aircraft before end of 2020. Delays encountered due to COVID-19, delivery of 1st aircraft pushed back to December 2020, 2nd aircraft by 1st quarter of 2021. No delivery yet as of 27 December 2020.
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One of the PAF's C-130T acquired from US EDA. Credit to original source of photo. |
The acquisition of refurbished and upgraded Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft, together with Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) package, is among those included in the Horizon 2 Phase Priority Projects that was given in-principle approval by Pres. Rodrigo Duterte in June 2018.
Originally, the plan calls for the acquisition of a single C-130H/T Hercules heavy tactical transport aircraft from US Excess Defense Articles (EDA) at an overall cost of Php2,080,000,000.00. The huge budget is due mostly to the upgraded avionics, the spares and logistics support, and other ancillary costs rather than the airframe itself.
Air transport has long been a problem of the PAF, and the Joint US Military Assistance Group (JUSMAG) Philippines has recommended to the US Department of Defense to assist the PAF in building this capability.
For this project, the US stepped in to assist by providing assistance through US Foreign Military Financing (FMF program, which now allowed the PAF to acquire two (2) refurbished and upgrade C-130 Hercules aircraft instead of just one. The overall cost of the project went up to Php2.5 billion, but the PAF is now just shouldering less than Php1.6 billion plus other expenses worth more than Php170 million, while the US Department of Defense paid for Php900 million worth of the project. This allowed the PAF a savings of around Php400 million which is was able to use in other modernization projects that encountered shortfall in funding.
The original delivery date for the C-130s was supposed to have happened earlier, with the first aircraft expected in early 2019, and the second aircraft before the end of 2019. This was confirmed in a speech made by former Commanding General Philippine Air Force (CGPAF) Lt. Gen. Galileo Kintanar (ret) in September 2018, and again reiterated in another speech during the service's Christmas Party in December 2018.
MaxDefense Philippines reported that the reason for delays was due to the delayed release of funding from the Philippine government, which has always been a problem in most modernization projects.
The Department of National Defense (DND) confirmed in a press release last week that based on their status reports, the first C-130 Hercules will be arriving within July 2020, and the second will arrive before the end of 2020.
Since the statement was based on a status report rather than an updated field information, there is still possibility that the arrival of the first aircraft will be delayed as COVID-19 has made things difficult globally. Although at best, we can still possibly expect its arrival within this 3rd quarter of 2020.
The arrival of these C-130s will certainly boost the PAF's existing fleet of three (3) operational C-130s operated by the Mactan-based 220th Airlift Wing, although only 2 aircraft are available at any given time since the third unit, a C-130T, is undergoing Inspection and Repair As Necessary (IRAN) procedures in Europe. The PAF also has a non-operational 1960s model C-130B which is expected to be retired from service soon, and a written off C-130H, which was cannibalized for parts after suffering damage from a fire in 2019.
U P D A T E S:
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Credits to original source of photo. |
As expected, due to COVID, the delivery of the refurbished C-130H Hercules acquired from the US was moved to October 2020 for the 1st aircraft (instead of July 2020), and the second unit is now for delivery by early 2021 (from late 2020).
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Photo credits to Kit Anad. |
MaxDefense Philippines checked its sources and found that the first C-130 aircraft that was said as scheduled for delivery this December 2020 has not yet arrived in the Philippines.
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PAF C-130H with t/n 5125. Photo credits to SBGrad. |
The aircraft, with serial number 87-284, was formerly a US Air Force C-130H Hercules transport aircraft built in 1987 and delivered in 1988. It was converted to a MC-130W Combat Spear special operations aircraft used for infiltrating, exfiltrating and resupplying US Special Operations forces. It also has capability to act as an aerial refuelling tanker for special operations helicopters and and aircraft.
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