17 February 2020
Indonesia receives final C-130H Hercules transport from Australia
by Marhalim bin Abas
Indonesia has taken delivery of the fifth and final C-130H Hercules transport aircraft ordered from Australia in July 2013.
The aircraft was formally inducted into the Indonesian Air Force (Tentara Nasional Indonesia – Angkatan Udara: TNI-AU) in a ceremony held on 15 February at the Abdul Rachman Saleh airbase in Malang, East Java.
The Indonesian Air Force received on 15 February the fifth and final C-130H Hercules transport aircraft ordered from Australia in July 2013. (Indonesian Air Force )
The aircraft, with tail number A-1338, will be operated by Skadron Udara 32 (Aviation Squadron 32), which is headquartered at the airbase.
In 2012 Australia approved the donation of four ex-Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) C-130Hs to the TNI-AU, with all of the aircraft being handed over to the TNI-AU by early 2017 after undergoing maintenance work.
Moreover, Indonesia signed in 2013 a contract to acquire five additional ex-RAAF C-130Hs along with a simulator and spare parts. However, following delivery to the TNI-AU, one of these aircraft crashed in the country's Papua Province in December 2016, killing all 13 people on board.
The TNI-AU operates another 13 Hercules of the B, H, and L-100 variants in four squadrons: 17, 31, 32, and 33. One of them, Squadron 33, which operates two Hercules transports, was stood up in June 2019 at the Sultan Hasanuddin airbase in South Sulawesi as part of the military’s plan to improve its transport capabilities across the Indonesian archipelago.
The five B variant aircraft operated by the TNI-AU, including its sole KC-130B tanker, underwent a maintenance and refit programme carried out by Malaysian firm Airod Sdn Bhd between 2016–19.
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Indonesia has taken delivery of the fifth and final C-130H Hercules transport aircraft ordered from ...
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