Bangladesh to receive final surplus UK C-130J airlifter in March

Bangladesh is to receive the last of five UK-surplus Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules transport aircraft in the coming weeks, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) told Jane’s on 7 January.

The first of five ex-Royal Air Force C-130J airlifters for Bangladesh was rolled out on 25 July 2019. With four aircraft now in-country, the final one is expected to be handed over in March. (Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group)

All of the ‘short-bodied’ C-130Js (designated C5 in Royal Air Force [RAF] service) were originally due to be with the Bangladesh Air Force by the end of 2019, but with four aircraft now in-country the MoD said the final one is now expected to be handed over in March.

As previously reported by Jane’s , Bangladesh ordered the surplus C-130Js in two batches of two and three aircraft in 2018 and earlier in 2019, respectively. The deals were initially revealed via maintenance contracts announced by Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group (ADG), although the MoD later confirmed the total number to Jane’s .

The first of the five aircraft was rolled out by Marshall ADG during an official ceremony in mid-July 2019. As Marshall ADG noted at the time, the company is carrying out comprehensive depth maintenance and important modifications on all the aircraft including capability enhancements such as medical evacuation, avionics upgrades, and the provision of a passenger transport configuration.