One of the last C-130Js in RAF service made its farewell flypast in June 2023. The MoD is continuing its search to find buyers for this and 14 other surplus airframes. (Crown Copyright)

The UK is continuing its search to find buyers for its fleet of retired Lockheed Martin C-130J/C-130J-30 Hercules airlifters, with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) telling Janes that it has identified several potential buyers.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) retired one ‘short' C-130J (C5 in UK service) and 13 ‘stretched' C-130J-30 (C4) airframes on 31 March 2023 (with the type's final farewell flypast following in June 2023), all of which, along with an additional C5 aircraft carried over from the previous round of retirements in 2015, are now available to overseas buyers.

“The Defence Equipment Sales Authority (DESA) is managing the sales programme on behalf of the MoD and continues to actively pursue sales with a number of potential buyers,” the ministry said on 10 May.

Currently scheduled to be retired in 2040, the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 could serve the UK as a force multiplier to its higher-end F-35 and Tempest aircraft well beyond that date, BAE Systems says. (Crown Copyright)

BAE Systems has touted the continued relevance of the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 to the UK, saying the ‘fourth-generation' combat aircraft can provide much-needed mass and resilience beyond its projected out-of-service date (OSD).

Speaking at the site of the BAE Systems' Warton production facility in northern England on 14 May, Mike Baulkwill, Combat Air Strategy director at the company, said that, with the international Eurofighter operator base set to fly improved and upgraded variants of the type out into the 2060s, the Royal Air Force (RAF) could retain its own aircraft beyond its current 2040 OSD.

“The Typhoon will be relatively enduring, as sometimes you will not want to use your higher-end aircraft [such as the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning and/or Tempest] – the Typhoon and the Typhoon Evolution [along with Eurofighter Evolution, the name being given to the Long-Term Evolution [LTE] mid-life refresh standard aircraft now being developed] is in a good place for that,” Baulkwill said.

Fujian , China's third aircraft carrier, seen here as it departs for its maiden sea trial on 1 May 2024. (VCG via Getty Images)

China has completed the maiden sea trials for its third aircraft carrier, which will be in service as CNS Fujian once it is commissioned. The vessel sailed off from the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai on 1 May and the trials were completed eight days later.

The trials focused on testing the “reliability and stability of the aircraft carrier's propulsion and electrical systems”, read a report from state-owned Xinhua News Agency, which was published to announce the trials.

Fujian was launched by Jiangnan Shipyard in June 2022. While it is slated to be the People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN's) third aircraft carrier overall, it is the country's first vessel to be configured for catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) aircraft operations.

Satellite images that have been analysed by Janes since 2021 support postulations that Fujian is equipped with electromagnetic catapults, given the presence of distinctive features along the track of the aircraft launching system.