Greece is considering to procure for six new C-130 aircraft after two embarrassing incidents in succession recently. The new aircraft to be procured are reportedly C-130J are reportedly the latest version of the American transport aircraft.
Greece’s image received a blow last Wednesday when a C-130 plane carrying humanitarian aid destined for Incirlik in Turkey departed from Thessaloniki but was forced to cut the journey short due to a problem and land at Elefsina.
This was preceded by another incident last spring when two C-130s were grounded for maintenance, forcing the government to request the assistance of the Royal Canadian Air Force in order to transfer Greek aid to Ukraine.
A new-build C-130J costs between €100 million commercial price and €115 million through the US Foreign Military Sales program. However, even if the order were placed today, the planes won’t be delivered until after at least 2.5-3 years, notes daily kathimerini.
According to military issues website armyvoice.gr, C-130 transport aircraft are in extremely low availability due to lack of maintenance.
The website noted “it is recalled that after the C-130s remained unmaintained for a long time in the hangars of the Hellenic Aerospace Industry EAB as the company was unable to carry out the project due to a lack of the necessary qualified personnel.”
the one one to bid in the relevant international tender was a Greek company that undertook the largest burden from the EAB to restore the C-130s to airworthy and operational condition.
“For reasons incomprehensible, and against the National interest, the project is undermined by interests within the EAB, aided by the inaction, or tolerance of the administration. noted armyvoice.gr
For seven months the qualified Greek technicians have been working in the EAB hangars to maintain the C-130s “without yet having received a single euro, not even the advance payment provided for in the relevant contract.”
Delays in receiving the necessary spare parts slow down the project, while since March 2022 there are spare parts for the C-130s in customs warehouses waiting to be picked up by the EAB. armyvoice.gr stressed.
“Delays in receiving the necessary spare parts slow down the project, while since March 2022 there are spare parts for the C-130s in customs warehouses waiting to be picked up by the EAB.”
Perhaps they don’t have the right paperwork to get customs to release the spares? Each required sheet is about 14 cm by 7.7 cm, carries a quite complicated pattern on both sides in white and various shades of brown/orange and has large number 50s printed on both sides. A significant number of sheets must be submitted in order to gain the release.