The Air Force on Tuesday delivered the fourth and final C-130J transport to the Royal Norwegian Air Force, thereby completing the aircraft portion of a foreign military sale to the Scandinavian ally. The handover of keys to the aircraft to the Norwegians took place at Lockheed Martin’s C-130J production facility in Marietta, Ga., Daryl Mayer, Air Force Material Command spokesman, told the Daily Report. The delivery was two months ahead of schedule. Norway is the first nation to acquire the C-130J via a FMS arrangement, and the deal also includes spare parts, technical publications, and training. “From the very beginning, this case has served as an example of how to conduct foreign military sales,” said Lt. Col. Peter Eide, commander of the 657th Aeronautical Systems Squadron at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. (Wright-Patterson report by Daryl Mayer)
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…