After extensive air and ground testing, Air Force Reserve Command and the Air National Guard will begin modernizing their fleets of C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft with new avionics.

C-130H-2s from AFRC's 908th Airlift Wing, along with C-130E models from the Idaho Air National Guard's 124th Wing in Boise, will lead the Air Force's plan to upgrade the avionics on all C-130 aircraft.

"Air Force Reserve Command has 100 C-130 cargo aircraft in its inventory and provides about 22 percent of the Air Force's total tactical airlift capability," said Brig. Gen. Martin M. Mazick, director of operations at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. "Our reservists work as equal partners with Air National Guard and active-duty airmen on frontline missions across the globe."

Called the Avionics Modernization Program, this conversion is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2007, said Capt. Jason Rusco, the program's test manager at the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The Boeing Co. is the prime contractor for the project that will eventually upgrade about 520 aircraft by the time the program is completed in 2016.

The modernization program's goals are to allow the aircraft to meet global air traffic management requirements, to improve the work load management for flight crews and to reduce the total ownership costs for the C-130 fleet, Captain Rusco said.

Currently, the Air Force has 14 variants of five different models of the C-130: E's, H-1's, H-2's, H-3's and J's. After this avionics upgrade and some engine changes, there will be only two major models: C-130AMPs -- converted E and H models -- and C-130J's.

Upgrading the avionics involves replacing the aircraft's analog instrumentation with six digital displays and the flight management system Boeing developed for its newest version of the 737 airliner.

In October, the 908th sent an aircraft to Eglin AFB, Fla., for testing inside the McKinley Climatic Laboratory. Engineers from Air Force Materiel Command and Boeing used the testing session as an opportunity to gather data on the aircraft's environmental control system.

Boeing engineers will use the data gathered from the five-day test session to improve the survivability of their avionics and to identify additional heating and cooling requirements if needed.

Also, the conversion offers many benefits for maintainers. Because there will be two types of C-130 parts instead of five, there will be a bigger pipeline and inventory from the various suppliers. The new C-130AMP will be able to use many of the same avionics parts as the commercial 737 airliner.

FMI: www.af.mil