German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyern signed a declaration of intent in Paris to pool the yet-to-be-acquired Lockheed Martin military transport planes with the same type operated by France, a German defense ministry spokesman said.
The French government earlier this year signed a deal to buy the Lockheed plane operated also by the U.S. Air Force and a large number of other military forces.
The C-130J purchase should give the German air force certainty that it will have the ability to provide airlift in crisis situations, the spokesman said. The German air force's fleet of Transall cargo planes is aging and in need of replacement.
The French and German defense ministries have been anchor members of a consortium of seven countries backing the development and production of Airbus's A400M military cargo plane. The project has suffered repeated technical problems and schedule delays, spurring interest among the two countries to buy extra cargo planes. (end of excerpt)
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(EDITOR’S NOTE: The four to six C-130Js to be ordered by Germany will also be based in France, the Tagesschau daily reported citing a German defense ministry spokesman.
This is presumably to benefit from a common support and logistics supply chain, reducing operating costs for both countries.
The joint base is likely to be located at Evreux, in Normandy.
Like the French C-130Js, the ones to be ordered by Germany will be mainly tasked for special operations, missions for which the Airbus A400M is less suitable as it cannot refuel helicopters in flight and cannot use its side doors to drop paratroopers.
The Franco-German cooperation on the C-130 is also intended as a political signal, Tagesschau reported. The two defense ministers are committed to strengthen military cooperation between the armed forces of the European Union.)
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from Defense Aerospace - Press releases http://ift.tt/2dslLH6
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