C-130H Hercules A97-007 from No. 37 Squadron (37SQN) prepares for take off at RAAF Base Richmond. The aircraft was loaded with equipment and personnel bound for Exercise Air Warrior in the United States of America. (Photo: Australia DoD)January 05, 2012, Canberra: AUSTRALIA will hand over four unneeded C-130 Hercules transport planes to Indonesia.
The Royal Australian Air Force transports are understood to have been in storage.
The RAAF's inventory has been boosted by the purchase of six giant C-17 Globemaster II transports, so the smaller and older Hercules are no longer needed. The C-130Hs that will go to Indonesia have been largely superseded in the RAAF by the more powerful J model.
According to the Jakarta Post, Indonesia's Defence Ministry confirmed this week that representatives from the two countries would meet later this month in Jakarta to discuss the handover.
Indonesian officials will visit Australia to examine the aircraft.
As the country of origin of the Hercules, the US has also approved the arrangement.
In 2009, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised to increase the military budget after the crash of a C-130 in East Java that killed more than 100 people.
That crash highlighted the urgent need for a boost to the military budget to enable more rigorous aircraft maintenance.
Western security analysts in Jakarta said at the time that the Indonesian Air Force had about 28 Hercules in the early 1980s, but no more than nine were in flying condition at the time of the crash.
Military commentator John Macbeth said: "It's a very small number and they were hugely embarrassed at the time of the 2004 tsunami because they couldn't provide the airlift capability to get aid into Aceh."
The four-engine Hercules has been in almost continuous production for more than 50 years.
Source: the Australian
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