Fleet will be inoperable in 2020 without improvements

WASHINGTON — Congressman John Carney (D-DE), along with Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) , today introduced the bipartisanC-130 Modernization Act, legislation to prevent wasteful spending and allow the United States Air Force to modernize the C-130H aircraft in a fiscally responsible manner without jeopardizing our national security.

The C-130H aircraft is the military’s primary combat delivery aircraft and has provided humanitarian assistance, precision airdrop and tactical airlift across the globe for more than 40 years. Currently, the C-130H fleet is flown by Air National Guard units in Delaware and 17 additional states and has played an invaluable role in our nation’s security, both at home and abroad. Unless the C-130 H fleet is upgraded and modernized, the aircraft will be inoperable in 2020 due to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and international safety regulations. This could mean the end of the Delaware National Guard’s C-130 flying mission, along with associated job losses. 

For the past 13 years, the Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) has been the designated program to upgrade the C-130H fleet to ensure its compliance with national and international regulations before the 2020 deadline. But due to significant cost overruns, the Air Force announced in 2012 that it wanted to abandon the AMP program and pursue a scaled-down and more cost-effective solution. A Congressionally mandated cost-benefit study found that modernizing just the navigation systems of the C-130H fleet would cost a quarter of the AMP program, saving $12 million per aircraft, while still allowing the C-130H fleet to meet all flight and airspace safety requirements by 2020.

The C-130 Modernization Act gives the Air Force the option to pursue this more targeted and fiscally responsible modernization approach. It would allow the Air Force to pursue either the AMP program or the cost-effective alternative program solely modernizing the navigation systems of the planes. The legislation does not cancel the AMP program, but instead gives the Secretary of the Air Force the flexibility to determine how best to upgrade the C-130H fleet in order to meet the 2020 deadline.

“Delaware's National Guard plays an integral part in our national security -- both at home and abroad, and the C-130 is vital to allowing them to do their job,” said Congressman Carney. “This legislation helps ensure the Guard will be able to continue to use the C-130 fleet into the future while cutting costs and saving taxpayer dollars.”

The 54 Adjutants General of the United States National Guard voted unanimously to support the Air Force’s efforts to modernize the C-130H fleet and expressed support for an alternative, cost-effective solution to the AMP program.

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