July 2006 Newsletter
Front Page • Layered
Security • Jewel
of the Fleet • NDIA • Partnership
Days • Tom's Run • PEO
Tour
Jewel of the Fleet: Building the Missionized HC-130Js
By Gordon I. Peterson
(Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin Corp.)
The HC-130 program team visited Eagan, Minn., in mid-June for a three-day total logistics conference for the C-130J long range surveillance aircraft. Traveling from Elizabeth City, N.C., on one of the Coast Guard's six C-130J aircraft that will be missionized as part of the Deepwater Program, the team was greeted at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport by more than 50 Lockheed Martin employees who are designing and building the aircraft's new systems and workstations.
"It was a wonderful opportunity to bring the aircraft to Minnesota and visit the men and women who are building its mission systems," said Capt. Matt Sisson, Deepwater's aviation program manager. "This will be the jewel of the fleet when it comes out."
In September 2005, Lockheed Martin received a $117.5 million contract from Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) to equip and integrate the Coast Guard's six J-model aircraft with new sensors, radios and workstations as part of the Deepwater Program. Software and system engineers at Lockheed Martin's Eagan facility have been developing the HC-130J design since October 2004 and will begin modifying the first aircraft this December for delivery in late summer 2007. All six aircraft are scheduled to be completed by August 2008.
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