Tata, Lockheed Martin to set up C-130J Super Hercules maintenance facility in Bengaluru
The IAF currently operates 12 C-130Js of Lockheed Martin that is known to be one of the world's leading tactical airlift planes.
India's private firm Tata Advanced Systems and the US' Lockheed Martin today (8 December) announced the setting up of a new maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in India to support operations of C-130J Super Hercules military transport aircraft.
The announcement to set up the facility in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru came as the Tata-Lockheed Martin joint venture is pitching C-130J Super Hercules as the best aircraft in the race to win a mega deal to supply around 80 heavy lift transport aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The IAF currently operates 12 C-130Js of Lockheed Martin that is known to be one of the world's leading tactical airlift planes.
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The construction of the MRO facility will finish by end 2026 and the facility expects to receive the first C130 for MRO operations in early 2027, a Lockheed official said.
The groundbreaking ceremony today brought together senior officials from the IAF, Indian government, industry leaders and senior executives from Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems.
Rod McLean, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Air Mobility and Maritime Missions, said the Defence MRO facility will bolster response time and security in the Pacific.
He said the C-130 plane completed a world-record breaking and unprecedented high-altitude landing at Daulat Beg Oldi in India's Ladakh near the border with China. Recently, it touched down at Nayoma Air Base in eastern Ladakh, marking the inauguration of the world's highest operational fighter base.
