Pakistan Air Force Transport

[fatman17]

Rockwell Collins awarded a $30M upgrade kits contract for Pakistani C-130s

January 19, 2016 (by Asif Shamim) - Rockwell Collins has been awarded a $30,727,886 contract for work on the Pakistani Air Force fleet of C-130 aircraft.

Pakistan Air Force L-382B Hercules #4144 from 6 Sqn seen at RIAT on 15 July 2006 sporting a special paint and wrap scheme for the Earthquake relief carried out in 2005. [Photo by Asif Shamim]


The contract will cover the design, manufacture, and technical support during installation and delivery of 11 C-130E model kits and five C-130B integrated avionics suites and kits.

Additionally, Rockwell Collins shall develop, validate, and deliver consolidated B/E flight manual and associated checklists, and maintenance supplements required to operate, maintain, and sustain the PAF C-130 fleet.

This contract comes through a foreign military sale to Pakistan approved by the U.S. Department of Defense, with the work to be carried out at Nur Khan Air Base, Islamabad and is expected to be complete by December 31, 2020.

 

[fatman17]

6 C130s are being upgraded in Malaysia. from my information 3 have received the upgrade.

My bad. at Nur Khan Base

 

[Ahmet Pasha]

KC390??
AN-70???
AN-178??

Y-9 has matured into a very nice cargo aircraft

Pakistan should take a serious look at this unit

the Y-8 Category III Platform on the ZDK-03 also has showed to be a good platform

the airforce already knows and has experience on this unit

a fleet of 12 x Y-9 would not be a bad addition to our cargo fleet

I'd say go for the Y8 first because logistics is already present , then maybe when the economy improves and we have to replace C130 then get Y9

 

[Army research]

KC390??
AN-70???
AN-178??

Y series are cheaper , and more of them are in service so more economy of scale this cheaper spare parts too , besides the fact we already have logistics due to the zdk awac

 

[fatman17]

LM offering C130 ASW options to existing fleets

 

[fatman17]

KC390??
AN-70???
AN-178??

PAF will never spend money on new transports

 

[Yasser76]

PAF will never spend money on new transports

True to an extent, but we did buy CN-235s to free up the C-130s from light duties and the IL-76 Tankers also perform heavy lift.

PAF love C-130 due to it's versiitlity and thats why they modernised them. 16 are more then enough for Pakistan's needs and in fact we have stored some air frames for parts/attrition reserve in order to keep fleet at 16.

Remember Pakistan is quite a narrow country and now we are blessed with great North/South road and rail links. Movement of troops and armour very easy compared to India. Also we do not have bases abroad.

As a result no real heavy lift requirement for Pakistan. CN-235 has taken over air base support and we have Phenom for internal VIP transport. C-130 will always be important but mainly to support army, disaster relief or when PAF deploys abroad for exercises.

 

[nomi007]

it is better to buy RJAF ex CN-235/295 for expand current fleet size

 

[Ahmet Pasha]

Yeah that is true they will not. Until paani sar se guzarey ga. Then they will go around begging the world for even 2 or 3 airframes. We've seen this trend with AirForce

PAF will never spend money on new transports

 

[niaz]

Those who are suggesting CASA CN-235/CN-295; these are performance figures for the key items

Capacity:

C-130 E/H: 92 passengers or 64 airborne troops. Total payload 33,000 Kg.

CN-235: 51 passengers or 35 paratroopers. CN-295 is the stretched version with 71 passenger carrying capacity. Total payload 6000 Kg

Speed:

C-130: cruising speed -541 Km/hr, top speed 593 Km/hr.

Cn-235: Cruising speed 450 Km /hr at 15,000 ft. CN-295 speed is 571 Km/hr

Range:

C-130: 3,797 Km, for CN-235 the range is 4,335 Km

T/O distance for C-10 can as little as 427meters for Cn-235 is 725 meters.

There are about 230 CN-235 in service worldwide. Whereas to date USAF alone has 145 C-130 in active service, 181 in the National Guard & 102 in the reserve. Total production of all models exceeds 2,500.

You can see that the reason why so many airforces including PAF and even IAF now loves the C-130 is that it can carry a larger load at higher speeds than any other transport plane in its class.

I can’t see the reason for any criticism here. C-130 is undoubtedly one of the best medium transport planes ever built. Only other military plane that can compare with it in the longevity of service & multipurpose use was C-47/Dakota. As of 2012, a few Dakota were still in service in South Africa; 75 years after it was first flown.

Besides, Pakistan has had very long experience in flying & maintain it also because there are a huge number of used C-130's available, availability of the spares in the black market; in case of sanction, should not much of a problem. Why do we want to replace it? Don’t you think that the scarce funds necessary to replace the aging C-130 plane could be better used elsewhere?

Please remember that every thing that is old is not necessarily bad or out of date and the replacement should only be done if absolutely necessary, not for the change alone or because we don’t like Donald Trump and /or America.

This is what the aviation industry thinks of C-130.

https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/50-years-of-hercules-5504946/

 

[fatman17]

True to an extent, but we did buy CN-235s to free up the C-130s from light duties and the IL-76 Tankers also perform heavy lift.

PAF love C-130 due to it's versiitlity and thats why they modernised them. 16 are more then enough for Pakistan's needs and in fact we have stored some air frames for parts/attrition reserve in order to keep fleet at 16.

Remember Pakistan is quite a narrow country and now we are blessed with great North/South road and rail links. Movement of troops and armour very easy compared to India. Also we do not have bases abroad.

As a result no real heavy lift requirement for Pakistan. CN-235 has taken over air base support and we have Phenom for internal VIP transport. C-130 will always be important but mainly to support army, disaster relief or when PAF deploys abroad for exercises.

The IL78 were used and upgraded. CN235 was a inexpensive purchase from Indonesia.

 

[fatman17]

Those who are suggesting CASA CN-235/CN-295; these are performance figures for the key items

Capacity:

C-130 E/H: 92 passengers or 64 airborne troops. Total payload 33,000 Kg.

CN-235: 51 passengers or 35 paratroopers. CN-295 is the stretched version with 71 passenger carrying capacity. Total payload 6000 Kg

Speed:

C-130: cruising speed -541 Km/hr, top speed 593 Km/hr.

Cn-235: Cruising speed 450 Km /hr at 15,000 ft. CN-295 speed is 571 Km/hr

Range:

C-130: 3,797 Km, for CN-235 the range is 4,335 Km

T/O distance for C-10 can as little as 427meters for Cn-235 is 725 meters.

There are about 230 CN-235 in service worldwide. Whereas to date USAF alone has 145 C-130 in active service, 181 in the National Guard & 102 in the reserve. Total production of all models exceeds 2,500.

You can see that the reason why so many airforces including PAF and even IAF now loves the C-130 is that it can carry a larger load at higher speeds than any other transport plane in its class.

I can’t see the reason for any criticism here. C-130 is undoubtedly one of the best medium transport planes ever built. Only other military plane that can compare with it in the longevity of service & multipurpose use was C-47/Dakota. As of 2012, a few Dakota were still in service in South Africa; 75 years after it was first flown.

Besides, Pakistan has had very long experience in flying & maintain it also because there are a huge number of used C-130's available, availability of the spares in the black market; in case of sanction, should not much of a problem. Why do we want to replace it? Don’t you think that the scarce funds necessary to replace the aging C-130 plane could be better used elsewhere?

Please remember that every thing that is old is not necessarily bad or out of date and the replacement should only be done if absolutely necessary, not for the change alone or because we don’t like Donald Trump and /or America.

This is what the aviation industry thinks of C-130.

https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/50-years-of-hercules-5504946/

Further PAF Herks are getting life extension upgrades.

 

[khanasifm]

http://warnesysworld.com/belgium-begins-c-130h-fleet-disposal-process/

 

[GriffinsRule]

https://www.airforce-technology.com/news/new-zealand-military-transport/

NZ as well, though no idea of how much life is left in their airframes

 

[fatman17]

PAF not in the market for any new or used transport aircraft.
16 C130 B, C, E
3 or 4 CN235
3 or 4 IL78MRTT
are meeting the current lift requirements.
Boeing 707-320s in storage can be used in emergencies.