RAAF C-130H drawdown begins

The 2006 acquisition of four C-17As for 36SQN at Amber-ley saw that unit’s 12 C-130Hs transferred to 37SQN to join the 12 C-130Js at Richmond. Coinciding with the amalgama-tion, four of the 12 C-130Hs were permanently ‘parked’ to provide greater efficiency and flexibility to 37SQN’s mixed fleet and skills base.

While these airframes of-ficially remained on strength they have been used as a source of spare parts for the eight re-maining aircraft since then and are unlikely to fly again without a substantial amount of work.

The Caribous of Townsville-based 38SQN were retired in December 2009 as these 40-year-old-plus piston-en-gined aircraft became too costly to support and their operational

utility in all but the most be-nign regional environments was questioned. To maintain multi-engined aircrew proficiency and capacity and a limited light transport capability, 38SQN re-equipped with leased King Air 350s.

As the RAAF’s C-17 fleet has grown in proficiency and in numbers – a fifth aircraft was delivered in September 2011 and a sixth is due later this year – the C-130J has relinquished much of the strategic mission and is now taking on more of the tactical roles once performed by the Caribou and the C-130H.

This is particularly apparent in the Middle East Area of Opera-tions, where three C-130Js are exclusively deployed in sup-port of coalition operations in and around Afghanistan, regularly operating into rough forward airfields.

But recent deployments of C-130Hs to Papua New Guinea to support elections there and to exercises such as Red Flag Alaska (see elsewhere this issue) and Cope North on Guam show there’s still plenty of life left in the ‘H’ – and that it still provides valuable capa-bility options to government.

It’s also important to note that not all C-130H missions can be performed by the C-130J yet – especially some of those tactical missions in support of special forces operations – although reportedly this will be addressed in a coming software upgrade that will further expand the J’s role from early next year and may finally see that model’s tactical potential realised.

GIFTED It was announced late last year that at least four of the C-130Hs will be ‘gifted’ to Indonesia as part of Australia’s foreign aid package to that country and an MoU on this was signed in Darwin during the Indonesian presidential visit on July 2 by Chief of Defence Force GEN David Hurley and Secretary General of the Indo-nesian Ministry of Defence Air Marshal Eris Herryanto.

In a statement, Defence said the transfer of the air-craft would give Indonesia a greater capability to respond to disasters and requests for humanitarian assistance and that Indonesia would fund a re-furbishment of the aircraft and all ongoing maintenance costs.

Whether the refurbishment is done in Australia by C-130H maintenance contractor Qantas Defence Services or else-where is yet to be determined. Similarly, the tail numbers to be gifted also are yet to be identified but Defence says the aircraft will be airworthy, perhaps suggesting the four airframes retired several years ago may not be candidates.

But while funding for the continued operation of the C- 130Hs by the RAAF ceased on June 30, Air Lift Group’s 84WG and 37SQN will continue operations with these aircraft until November. The RAAF is working on a phased drawdown of C-130H capability so it can manage its workforce and any potential capability gap while also planning for the smooth transition to the C-27J, to be operated at Richmond by a resurrected 35SQN.

There also has been talk that more former RAAF C-130Hs may be earmarked for other nations in our region or that Indonesia may take more than the four on offer.

Meanwhile, Defence insiders have indicated it may be an option to begin conversion of RAAF aircrews and maintain-ers to the C-27J earlier than planned. Despite the type being scheduled for early retirement by the Pentagon in its FY2012 US defence budget submis-sions, Congress is yet to ratify this move and reportedly there is much work to be done before that budget is passed.

So in a move similar to the introduction of the off-the-shelf C-17A and F/A-18F Super Hornet into RAAF ser-vice, the opportunity to place RAAF personnel with these units for conversion training may be taken sooner rather than later.