L3Harris updates on C-130H modernisation, Skyraider II, autonomy

L3Harris' Skyraider II is an ISR variant of the Air Tractor AT-802 airframe. (L3Harris Technologies)

As the US Air Force (USAF) continues its modernisation of the Lockheed Martin C-130H variant while operating the newer C-130J, Sean Ling, vice president and general manager of the Modernization and Modifications Group at L3Harris Technologies, told Janes on 9 June that the company has worked through the “initial engineering design development” of modifying three C-130Hs and testing them is “nearing completion”.

Ling said the company will use its work on the Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) Increment 2 to upgrade to the H models “to ensure that there is availability and sustainability of the platform” for “decades to come”.

“Our expected execution will be less than a year from induction to delivery,” he told Janes, adding the company is positioning itself to support any USAF decision regarding upgrades of the C-130H.

He also pointed to a July 2025 contract with the Royal Moroccan Air Force, which he said is to upgrade four of its C-130H aircraft, noting that L3Harris is “well into the design phase and procuring and preparing for aircraft induction in about one year to begin work on the first avionics upgrade”.

Ling said the work done with Morocco's air force and the USAF has opened other options for work with international partners, including direct commercial sales, while others would be through “foreign military sales in coordination and cooperation with the US Air Force”.

He said that while missionisation timelines for the C-130H would take about a year to fully upgrade the cockpit, efforts are being made to reduce that timeline to six months and then three months.

Skyraider II