Australia buys 20 new C-130J Hercules from the US weeks after UK retires aircraft
Australia is set to buy 20 new C-130J Hercules for their air force from the US, just one month after the UK retired its Hercules fleet.
The new Hercules will replace the 12 already in service with the Royal Australian Air Force, costing $9.8 billion (£7.6 million), with the first expected to be delivered from late 2027.
The Australian Defence Force uses the Hercules to deploy personnel, equipment and humanitarian supplies.
Richard Marles MP, Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, said the Hercules is "an important capability for our defence force, but also for Australia as a nation".
"From bushfire and flood emergencies across the country, the delivery of crucial supplies to the region during the COVID-19 pandemic and more than two decades supporting peacekeeping operations, this has and will continue to be a crucial asset," he said.
He said the Albanese Government, the federal executive government of Australia, was committed to ensuring the Australian Defence Force was equipped with the capabilities it needed to keep Australians safe, adding: "This targeted expansion of the fleet size will do just that."
The Hercules has regularly been used in search and rescue missions, disaster relief and medical evacuations, as well as being involved in every major Australian defence operation in recent decades - including in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Pat Conroy MP, Australian Minister for Defence Industry, said Australia is buying the aircraft "to respond to the wide range of challenges our nation will face in the future".
"Since 1999, the C-130J Hercules has served Australia across our region and beyond, proving to be a reliable workhorse in roles from humanitarian operations to conflict zones," he said.
"Having 20 aircraft, up from 12, will mean more opportunities for local industry to sustain the aircraft, creating more Australian jobs.
"There'll also be jobs associated with infrastructure redevelopments at RAAF Base Richmond."
It comes after the UK retired the Hercules last month, a decision that received a fair amount of criticism.
The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, said plans to replace the aircraft would leave a temporary capability hole for Special Forces operations.
AM Sir Richard, at the time, said: "There is a gap from when the Hercules goes out of service to when the A400M picks up all of those capabilities.
"The niche issues where the gap is is around the airdrop and the kind of things we can drop from the aircraft."
This sentiment was echoed by former RAF chiefs and other top commanders, who called the decision to replace the transport aircraft with the larger Airbus A400M "perverse".
In a joint letter published in The Times, the letter from numerous military figures said: "At a time of great international tension, the decision to remove a proven and effective workhorse is extraordinary."
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