C-130J Variant Dismissed Due To Cert Questions

The Lockheed Martin Corporation is officially out of the running for a $5 billion contract to provide more than 100 small cargo aircraft to the Army and Air Force.

As Aero-News reported, Lockheed had offered a version of its C-130J Hercules aircraft as a surprise, last-minute entry in the bid for the Joint Cargo Aircraft contract. The company has already spent $1 billion of its own funds developing the aircraft.

The Washington Post reports a letter from the Army contracting office to Lockheed stated that the company's submission did not meet the competition's standards, including a requirement that the aircraft be certified by the FAA, which the C-130J is not.

Lockheed spokesman Jeff Adams says his company disagrees with the decision, and that the C-130J is based on another FAA-certified aircraft already in use by the Air Force, several other services and some foreign countries.

"We believe the C-130J is the best value solution for the Army and is the only aircraft which meets the stringent operational requirements of both the Army and the Air Force," Adams said. He added that Lockheed is currently mulling over whether to file a protest, after it is briefed on the Army's ruling.

Lockheed had also been plagued by rising costs and questions about performance of the aircraft... in fact, the Pentagon proposed canceling the C-130J program last year, but later decided it was too expensive to terminate.

With Lockheed out of the competition, that leaves L-3 Communications Holdings Incorporated and Raytheon in a fight to build the planes.

The Army wants the new planes to replace the C-23 Sherpa, C-12 and other small cargo aircraft used by the Army to deliver small amounts of cargo to military hot spots with unpaved or rough airstrips. The Air Force plans to use some of the new planes as well.

FMI: www.c-27j.com, www.us-c295.com/military_transport.html, www.lockheedmartin.com