Saudi Arabia operates 50 Herc’s
Saudi Arabia is already an opera-
tor of the ‘classic C-130’ or ‘Heritage
Herc’, with a fleet of about 50 aircraft
– making it the largest C-130 opera-
tor outside the USA.
The C-130J would also seem to be
a good fit for the UAE Air Force and
Air Defence, though it faces compe-
tition from the faster, jet-powered
Embraer KC-390, the thrifty Airbus
Military C295 and the rugged Alenia
C-27J – all of which represent lower
cost options than the Lockheed
offering, but none of which offer the
range performance of the Hercules.
Hercules support in the region
will be enhanced with the open-
ing of a new facility at Al Ain – the
product of a partnership between
Lockheed and AMMROC – which is
just one part of a truly global sup-
port infrastructure for the C-130.
SA Artillery