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Will we need another chapter of 'Exotic Alberts?'

From AF Daily Report 6 Feb 09

Hercules Meet and Greet: Members of the 86th Airlift Wing from Ramstein AB, Germany, spent Jan. 28 at Powidz AB, Poland—about 75 kilometers east of Poznan—with one of their C-130s to show the aircraft to Polish airmen and exchange ideas. The 86th AW contingent demonstrated low-level flying, mission planning, standard maintenance, and loading procedures. The Poland Air Force is on tap to receive five upgraded C-130Es from USAF in the near future. Although the E model is a 1960s-era airframe, the Polish assets "will have some modifications, and many components will be changed, so now you are looking at year 2000 technology instead of 1960 technology," said Brig. Gen. William Bender, 86th AW commander. The five transports will be the largest aircraft in Poland's inventory and will expand Poland's cargo and troop moving capabilities and its ability to participate in cooperative contingency operations globally. (Powidz report by SrA. Nathan Lipscomb)

The Poles are very keen to get hold of the C-130s as soon as possible. They've already retired their An-26s and need the C-130s asp.

Who is getting the RAFs C-130Ks. I heard it was Albania?

The United States is going broke. The fire sales have begun........

There was mention on The Pentagon Channel yesterday of several C130 E models now belonging to the new Iraqi AF, used to move the ballots around for the recent election. So, yet another addition of Exotic Alberts for them is needed as well!

Ron

There were rumors that the british C-130K could arrive here in Chile, sin curently there is only 1 C-130H operational. The las 130B was phased out during 2008 and the other 130H is undergoing a mayor update to wing structure and cockpit so it is unavailable for 1-2 more years

The british aircraft would be interim as it is spected that the airforce buys new cairgo aircraft arround 2012

This is like being the youngest kid in a huge family. You get a lot of hand-me-downs. I am sure they are all given updates and refurbished. Who does that? Does Lockheed do the work or are there other maintenance facilities that do that?? I have also seen some pics on the web of IRANIAN C-130s recently. I would have thought there was a parts embargo as there was for the F-14. But I have also seen recent shots of IRANIAN F-14s. Anyone know if they are still flying??

GZR_Sactargets wrote:I would have thought there was a parts embargo as there was for the F-14. But I have also seen recent shots of IRANIAN F-14s. Anyone know if they are still flying??

There IS a parts embargo concerning the F-14s and Iran specifically.... has been for years. I'm curious about the pictures you mentioned. Do you have a link?

Ford Friendly wrote:

GZR_Sactargets wrote:I would have thought there was a parts embargo as there was for the F-14. But I have also seen recent shots of IRANIAN F-14s. Anyone know if they are still flying??

There IS a parts embargo concerning the F-14s and Iran specifically.... has been for years. I'm curious about the pictures you mentioned. Do you have a link?

I got them in an email. The friend said they were from Teheran and recent shots.

According to my sources some of the 30 of the IRIAF's C-130e/h Hercules remain intact.A good proportion of the fleet has gone through complete overhauls with ICAI ,though this project is not finished.Stationed at Merhrabad..(TBF.1Mehrabad).As far as the Tomcats the IRIAF has between 13 and 16 airworthy F-14's, (at best).Reports from within the IRIAF (confirmed by sightings,photographs and videos....show 44 operational Tomcats...Most Tomcats are deplyed to Irans most important airfields.Most of Irans f-14's are stationed at Shahid Baba'ie (The 4th fighter squadron)Also some of the modifications on the F-14 have been adapted to carry the APU-73 misslile rail on both under stations.

A former colleague who worked with GlobalSecurity.org says his best guess is there are currently 8 or fewer fully functional F-14's after cannabalization of other airframes and kludge-replacements of parts. Also, some domestically manufactured replacements of certain systems has likely occured - with uncertain results in terms of capabilities and production quality. "Flyable F-14's" might expand the "operational" number to 14, to 18 only with serious speed and manueverability restrictions.

Doctrinally, he believes that they are essentially zero threat to anyone as the Iranians rely on them now solely for the powerful radars to provide targetting/early warning for other aircraft flying a miles behind other Iranian aircraft - despite any current capability for A2A missile launches by individual aircraft. He said that he thought they might, in desperation, fire and forget then run away to try to preserve the airframe.

That's the information I have.

Which other Eastern European countries are using the Hercules?
I think Romania... but what about the others?

There are quite a number of shots on Airliners.net of Iran's F-14s, F-4s, C-130's etc. In fact, it must be a sign of the times that these shots are even allowed out of the country. Or it's a sign of the times that they are "intentionally" let out of the country.

There's also a couple of shots of that F-5 looking thing that they have produced. Looks like an F-5 except it has a a set of V shaped vertical stabs.

From AF Daily report 31 Mar 09

A Herk for the Poles: The Polish Air Force last week received the first of five refurbished C-130E Hercules transports at its Powidz Air Base. Maj. Gen. William Chambers, director of air and space operations at US Air Forces in Europe, said the Poland is "one of our allies who are very willing to go," so it is "vital" for them to have that organic capability. He continued, "Whether it is Afghanistan or Iraq, they've been alongside the Americans in both fights." Calling the arrival of the tactical airlifter "a milestone," Polish Brig. Gen. Tadeusz Mikutel, 33rd Air Base commander, said in a Polish embassy statement: "The plane is able to carry 17 tons of equipment or 90 equipped soldiers. That is why the plane will leave [our current] CASA planes behind." According to a Polish Ministry of Defense statement, Poland expects to receive the other four Hercules by summer 2010. A US Air Force Total Force crew picked up the aircraft at the L-3 Communication Integrated Systems Waco (Tex.) Integration Center and, along with a Polish aircrew, flew the C-130 to Poland. (USAFE report by Capt. Tony Wickman)