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kheed Martin will provide the Air Force with six KC-130J aircraft modified to fit the needs of the service’s combat search and rescue and special operations forces, according to a USAF release dated July 17. The service had planned to hold a media roundtable this week to discuss the award and its efforts to recapitalize the HC-130 and MC-130 fleets, only to cancel with the early release of the Government Accountability Office tanker protest decision. The Air Force has awarded Lockheed $470 million to procure the six Hercules in Fiscal 2009 and long-lead materiel under a previous C-130J contract, according to a Pentagon contract release. The service included in its Fiscal 2008 budget request about $75 million for advance procurement and development to begin the CSAR/SOF recapitalization effort. Its Fiscal 2009 budget request included justification for KC-130Js as an “immediate requirement” to replace the few in number and heavily used HC/MC-130 aircraft. According to the July 17 release, their increased usage rate has engendered “mounting sustainment challenges.”
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.