LITTLE ROCK — A decade-long struggle to develop a C-130 avionics upgrade program ended this week with Pentagon approval to start limited production of the upgrade kits and move forward with final flight tests of the modified planes at Little Rock Air Force Base.
The C-130AMP, as the modified 1980s and 1990s-era C-130H planes are called, has overcome years of contract disputes, skyrocketing costs and wavering support. And through it all, the Arkansas National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base weathered the waves of hope and defeat as it waited to see if it would become the nation’s C-130AMP training unit as promised so many years ago.
The Pentagon cleared the C-130AMP on Saturday for low-rate initial production, dissolving any lingering doubts of its survival. Over the next four years, 10 more C-130Hs will be converted to C-130AMPs. There are currently three in the Air Force inventory, which were used in initial flight tests. The limited production allows for final operational flight testing next year by the 189th - a necessary step before converting all 222 C-130Hs in the Air Force inventory.
“We’ve been working in that direction for some time,” said Col. Jim Summers, 189th commander. “Even though AMP has been contentious, we’ve continued preparing not only the 189th but the contractors for that transition into AMP. Everything is on track, it’s just a matter of coordinating the airplanes and getting the bodies in here now.”
The avionics upgrade gives the plane an entirely new cockpit. The analog gauges are replaced with digital dials, and satellite communication and air traffic control systems. Additionally, the navigation system is centralized and automated, allowing the pilots to do the job historically done by a navigator.
Boeing Inc. has spent about $1.4 billion developing the upgrade, according to Jennifer Hogan, Boeing spokesman.
“We are confident in the C-130AMP solution and moving forward into [low-rate initial production] is excellent news,” she said. “We are ready to get these aircraft upgraded and back to war fighters as quickly as possible.”
In the past two months, the program has gained momentum and more support than it has seen in the past nine years.
Just last fall, Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force chief of staff, announced that he was canceling the program because it had become too expensive. The Department of Defense is estimated to have spent upward of $5 billion on the program over the past decade.
In January, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates reversed that decision, deeming the upgrade necessary but offering no additional funding.
Then, on April 29, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley announced a plan to expedite the retirement of the oldest C-130s, the 46-year-old E-Model, to fund more new C-130Js and the C-130AMP upgrade.
Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville, as the largest C-130 base in the world, is ground zero for the complex plan.
“The real challenge here is we’re going to do this transition without any reduction in C-130 training - the program flying training - and no reduction, more importantly, in the quality of the training that is delivered at the C-130 Center of Excellence,” said Col. C.K. Hyde, commander of the 314th Airlift Wing at the Jacksonville base.
The 314th trains new C-130 crews for all branches of the U.S. military and international allies. It currently has C-130Es and C-130Js.
The 314th and Little Rock Air Force Base’s 19th Airlift Wing will retire their combined 40 C-130Es over the next two years. The 19th will receive C-130Hs (which will eventually receive AMP upgrades) from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas as its new J models arrive from Lockheed Martin. The 314th will begin receiving new J-models as well.
The C-130AMP will not be ready for full production in time to replace the rapidly retiring Es. And the 314th’s new J-model fleet is still being built.
That leaves fewer planes available for C-130 crew training. About 2,000 students move through the 314th training every year. To fill the gap, a new Air Force Reserve squadron will be created at Little Rock Air Force Base with more than 700 airmen and 18 C-130Hs on loan from Air Force Reserve and National Guard squadrons from across the nation.
Officials across four major Air Force commands converged at Little Rock Air Force Base this week in a Site Activation Task Force to hash out how to build the new squadron and transition the fleet over the next 10 years.
“That [task force] consists of a bunch of working groups to dive into and look at all the issues, things like manpower, civilian personnel, military personnel, operations and training, communication services, financial management, the money aspect of it. You’re dealing with four commands, so there are a lot of cross command issues that need to be resolved,” Hyde said.
The first step was establishing a schedule for the movement of planes and airmen.
The first planes and airmen will arrive at the end of this year, as the 314th’s remaining C-130Es begin to retire. The C-130Hs will arrive at the same rate that the C-130Es will retire - about five per quarter in 2011.
“On Oct. 1, the decisions of this [task force] will begin to be implemented,” Hyde said. “The change is coming very rapidly, we can’t afford to wait to start planning.”
Summers said planners are looking at everything from how to migrate between missions to how to house all the incoming airmen.
The bulk of the Reserve personnel will begin to arrive next year, with the squadron fully manned by 2014. At the same time, the 314th will begin reducing its numbers by about 500 airmen, because the J-model requires half the number of crew members as the C-130E and H.
The new Air Force Reserve squadron that will take over the C-130H training will fall under the organizational umbrella of the 189th, a National Guard unit. As the nation’s fleet of C-130AMPs grows in the next 10 years, the need for C-130H training will decrease, eventually ending the need for the Reserve squadron.
As the new squadron is growing next year, the 189th will begin the final operational flight tests required for the C-130AMP to go into full production. It will also increase its “transition training” of current C-130 pilots on the C-130AMP to build its cadre of instructors.
“We’re looking at standing up that AMP schoolhouse in about 2014, so we’ll still be dealing with that and moving into that weapon system as well,” Summers said. “So there are a lot of moving parts.”
The C-130AMP program still has some hurdles to clear.
The full low-rate initial production plan calls for 20 upgraded planes, although only 10 have been approved right now. Those that are upgraded will go to the 189th for operating tests next year.
Jeffrey McDaniel, director of strategy and growth for weapon system modernization at Boeing, said he expects the Pentagon to open bids for the contract to install the kits next year with a contract for full production by 2014.
Boeing holds the contract for developing and producing the upgrade kit, but the installation is a different contract. The installation of the kits in the low-rate production will be split among the Air Force at Warner-Robbins Air Force Base in Georgia, Boeing and a third party.
“I’ve been with the program for seven years,” McDaniel said. “I always believed AMP would go forward. The people on the AMP program have been dedicated to it. We have a schedule, we have milestones. And regardless of what happens external to the program - that’s all stuff we can’t do anything about - we still have a commitment to the customer to carry out the work and we just press forward and keep your chin up and press forward.”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 06/25/2010