Lockheed 
Martin issued an artist’s rendering of its new C-130XJ transport concept. The company is marketing the new variant as a lower cost option to nations that might not be able to afford a full-up C-130J like those in the Air Force’s inventory, or that do not have the same intense mission demands for an airlifter. The C-130XJ features the operational capabilities of the baseline C-130J, such as the same powerplants, company officials have said. Among the differences, it would utilize the legacy cargo-handling system used on older C-130 models in place of the C-130J’s fully automated cargo-handling system and underfloor winch, they have said.
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…