British firm Marshall has secured a £4.5 million contract extension to continue providing engineering support for the French Air Force’s fleet of 14 Lockheed Martin C-130H Hercules aircraft.
This extension builds on an initial four-year contract, previously extended by two years, awarded by the state-owned maintenance organisation Service Industriel de l’Aéronautique (SIAé).
The extended contract will see Marshall continue to provide maintenance, repair, and overhaul support, centred around SIAé’s facility in Clermont, France.
Additionally, Marshall will supply C-130 parts and repair kits manufactured in-house under exclusive Authority to Manufacture permissions from Lockheed Martin.
“Securing this additional contract extension demonstrates the trust SIAé and the French Air Force continue to place in us to keep their fleet airworthy,” said Mark Hewer, Director of Aero Engineering for Marshall.
“Thanks to our close working relationship and frequency of contact with SIAé, we are able to understand emergent needs and act on them immediately, drawing equally on our platform expertise and our engineering excellence.”
Marshall’s relationship with the French Air Force began with the initial contract award in December 2017. Throughout and following the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, Marshall has maintained its support for the air force, reinforcing its commitment and reliability.
The French Air Force’s C-130H fleet has played significant roles in military operations in Africa, including Operation Serval in Mali, and various humanitarian missions across the Middle East and North Africa.
Hooo look C130s who needs those when you have A400M…let’s all laugh at France for being idiots….😒🙄☹️
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The RAF was lending them C17 and Chinook lift because they dont have capacity with what they have.
C130 is gone.
Let it go.
We wont get it back.
Except for the “SF Use it” argument it cannot lift Boxer and Ajax. The RAF wasn’t going to spaff away money to keep a couple of Hercs on call just so Smudge, Kiwi and Knocker to go off and hide in a wadi for weeks on end.
To be honest I think this one goes beyond niche SF and was simply a bad decision..the A400M is strategic airlift that can do a bit of tactical airlift…but it’s not such an adaptable tactical airlift platform as a Hercules…and the UK now has a tactical airlift gap, also numbers matter. Re not being able to lift Ajax…it begs the question why do we have a 40 ton recce vehicle. as for boxer..that’s going to equip the 6 armoured infantry battalions..which are not really airmobile anyway as they are part of 3rd division. Most of the armies battalions are either… Read more »
A400 sits /crosses tactical and strategic. Lifts more for a longer period but nowhere near as well as a C17. A400 was ordered before the army decided what it was currently doing with vehicles. If FRES had come to fruition it would have been fine… A vehicle light enough to transport easily would have been part of it. As it is the Army went for, as you say a 40t vehicle for recce and Boxer that is huge. Thinkdefence has an excellent article on vehicle airmobility. The Army definatley ND’d into its own foot with its vehicle procurement woes and… Read more »
The A400M does indeed cross..strategic and tactical air lift..like any platform that tries to do everything..it is comprised..and the reality it needs more runway than a Hercules in a number of load configurations and tends to cause more damage to rough strips than Hercules…infact there is good evidence from rough strip operations that Hercules is better at preserving the runway than A400M…but the most brutal reality is that it cuts the total number of platforms by around 1/3…that reduced by around 1/3 the number of tactical air mobility task lines…that’s a lot of reduced capability…
Hi GB. For me, he issues is the reduction in asset numbers. I’d like a few more A400 ordered to address the deficit. Highly unlikely though.
I don’t think anyone disagrees with that. More would be good
That’s a great observation Jonathan. Depressing to think there are no more RAF J models.
To late fo the next defence eview to save our Hercules? With war imminent we could find ourselves short of everything.
There’s no ‘could’ about it. We are short of everything. Planes, ships, aircraft and people!
Frank , I believe some of the ex RAF J models have been delivered to Bangladesh. Unsure if the rest are in storage?