TSAMTO, February 8th. The American Lockheed Martin and the Swedish MilDef International AB will jointly offer the Swedish Air Force the C-130J-30 Super Hercules military transport aircraft.
According to a MilDef Group press release, a memorandum of understanding with Lockheed Martin to explore industrial cooperation with the Swedish aerospace sector was signed on February 6.
Through the signed memorandum, the two companies will identify partnership opportunities where MilDef solutions and expertise can be integrated into Lockheed Martin's global aerospace and defense system. At the same time, it is noted that the MilDef Group company, headquartered in Helsingborg (Sweden), offers the most modern IT solutions.
Recall that Brazil also claims to receive an order for the supply of new military transport aircraft for the Swedish Air Force. Embraer S.A. (Brazil) and Saab (Sweden) announced an agreement to jointly promote the new C-390 Millennium on the Swedish market on November 14, 2023.
Prior to that, on April 11, 2023, during the aerospace and defense technology exhibition, LAAD, Saab and Embraer signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation between companies in various fields, primarily in the development of new business lines in the field of development.
In the announcement of the signed memorandum, it was stated that the companies will work in partnership to position the new C-390 Millennium military transport aircraft as the preferred solution to meet the needs of the Swedish Air Force tactical transport aviation, as well as to evaluate the integration of Saab equipment and systems into the C-390.
As already reported by CAMTO, in September 2023, the Swedish government decided to include an item on the purchase of new military transport aircraft in the draft law on the defense budget for 2024. The proposal of the Swedish government to purchase tactical transport aircraft is related to the need to replace the outdated Tp-84/C-130H Hercules (Swedish Air Force It still operates a fleet of six obsolete Tp-84/C-130H Hercules transport aircraft, the last of which was delivered in May 1969).
As stated in the Swedish Cabinet, "the tactical transport capabilities of aviation are crucial for the rapid transportation of troops and cargo. The current fleet of Tp-84 tactical transport aircraft (C-130H) is outdated and has low operational readiness. In order to maintain the possibility of tactical air transportation, it is necessary to introduce a new aviation system. Since the potential in this area is an important component both for national defense in international operations and for supporting the Armed Forces in crisis management operations, the acquisition must be carried out urgently."
The document also mentions that there were maintenance problems with the C-130H Hercules fleet.
According to the information of the resource Scramble.nl Sweden will decide on the choice of a successor to the C-130H (C-130J-30 "Super Hercules" or KC-390 "Millennium") this year.