The Defence Tools Gross sales Authority (DESA) is a part of Defence Tools and Help, throughout the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), and is the organisation with sole authority and duty for overseeing the sale of surplus UK Armed Forces army gear. Shopping for from DESA offers prospects with probably the most value and time efficient different to buying model new army gear. DESA is at present advertising and marketing quite a lot of C-130J plane which are popping out of service between 2023 and 2025. They’re accessible on the market from the UK MoD, who’re working with their principal retail companion Marshall Aerospace, who will present crucial entry into service, sustainment and functionality enhancements.

The Lockheed Martin C-130J Tremendous Hercules is a four-engine turboprop army transport plane. The C-130J is the latest model of the C-130 Hercules and the one mannequin in manufacturing. As of March 2022, 500 C-130J plane have been delivered to 26 operators in 22 international locations. Externally much like the traditional Hercules on the whole look, the J-model options significantly up to date know-how. These variations embody new Rolls-Royce AE 2100 D3 turboprop engines, Dowty R391 six-bladed composite scimitar propellers which have blade ideas swept by 35 levels, digital avionics, and diminished crew necessities. The C-130J features a black rubber deicing boot on the backside of the vertical fin, which is one other visible distinction from earlier variations of the Hercules.

Commercial

Two Lockheed Martin C-130J Tremendous Hercules from Royal Air Power 47 Squadron (Picture by SAC Connor Tierney/Crown Copyright )

The Hercules is the Royal Air Power’s major tactical transport plane and in its present C.Mk 4 and C.Mk 5 variations of the C-130J-30 and C-130J, respectively, has been the spine of UK operational tactical mobility duties because it was introduced into service in 1999. It’s regularly employed to function into international locations or areas the place there’s a menace to plane; its efficiency, ways and defensive techniques make it the perfect platform for such duties. The plane is extremely versatile, with the power to airdrop quite a lot of shops and paratroopers, and function from pure floor touchdown zones. Lengthy-range capabilities are enhanced with air-to-air refuelling, whereas the Air Survival Rescue Equipment could also be mounted within the cabin for search and rescue missions, enabling the Hercules to airdrop life rafts and emergency provides.

Having labored intensively throughout Operations Telic and Herrick alongside the legacy Hercules fleet, the C-130J has gathered flying hours moderately extra quickly than had been projected. It was recognized within the 2010 Strategic Defence and Safety Evaluate for withdrawal from service in 2022, a decade sooner than initially deliberate. By now the A400M programme was nicely superior. The Atlas was all the time earmarked to interchange the Hercules and though its tactical functionality is more likely to have expanded dramatically by 2022, the C-130J clearly had an vital tactical function to play till the A400M was absolutely established. The 2015 Strategic Defence and Safety Evaluate mirrored this pondering, with the announcement that 14 Hercules C4s will stay in service till 2030.