Only two C-130s are currently flying conditionally and one is going to Portugal for maintenance
About a month ago, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis convened a rather unusual meeting at the Maximos Palace. The cause was an incredible situation, which affected the international image of the country. The C-130s, which had been carrying the weapons it had promised to send to Kyiv (via Poland) from the beginning, were stuck, unable to continue their operations. Athens was forced to ask for help for the mission from the Royal Canadian Air Force, which dedicated its own transports for this purpose. Mr. Mitsotakis asked the participants in the meeting, including the Ministers of National Defense, Finance and Development, for an immediate solution to the problem, in order for the PA transports. to be able to fly again. Surprisingly, the meeting was attended by the president of EAB Ioannis Koutras and the CEO of the company Dimitris Papakostas. From Washington, last Monday, the Prime Minister announced an intense behind-the-scenes discussion, the proposal of “Lockheed Martin”, ie the main customer and partner of ADA, to take over part of the company’s work, with the aim of upgrading it to an air repair center. and maintenance. The proposal announced by Mr. Mitsotakis, in essence, hides the “break” of ODA in two companies, with the one that will be undertaken by “Lockheed Martin” acquiring the part that concerns the works. Among which, of course, is the maintenance of the C-130.
If the story of Lockheed Martin’s four-engine C-130 was not linked to a very serious issue, namely the ability of the Air Force to carry out regular transports of the Armed Forces, it would be ridiculous. The first 10 C-130Hs joined the U.S. in the period 1975-1977, while in 1992 the USA provided 5 even older type (C-130B) from their surplus stocks. The tragedies of the crash of two C-130s, on Mount Othris in 1991 and in Dervenochoria in 1996, had already alarmed the PA officers, mainly due to the obsolete electronics.
The problem has been growing since the late 1990s. During the days of Akis Tsochatzopoulos and specifically in the period 1998-99, it was decided to hold a tender for the modernization of electronics, which was awarded, not to the accredited manufacturer “Lockheed Martin”, but to a company that then disappeared, on the grounds that “Diversification” of suppliers. Along with the upgrade of the electronics, the scheduled general maintenance (every six years), also known as PDM, had to be done. During the decade 2000-2010, the C-130s began to present structural problems, with the main one concerning the condition of the wing box, that is, the system that connects the fuselage to the wings.
Chaos followed. Because the planes were stuck for six years of maintenance, but the wing box also had to be replaced. That is, first maintenance and then modernization or vice versa. The modernization of the C-130s had to take two years and, finally, it reached nine. And after 2008, the financial crisis and then the memorandum led to the final blow. ODA could not service its contracts, as it received money from the PA. to buy spare parts for the C-130s, but these were evaporating to pay off other liabilities. At the same time followed the bleeding on the part of staff, as valuable craftsmen with thousands of hours of experience on a C-130 began to leave voluntarily. The situation inevitably affected international clients, such as Egypt and Romania. According to a source familiar with the matter, “in the end, the Romanians gave up and opened their own production line.”
Only two C-130s are currently flying under certain conditions. The Ministry of National Defense has already agreed to send one more to Portugal, which will be maintained through the NATO program (Nato Support and Procurement Agency). The staff of the Minister of National Defense, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, is also working on the shipment of three more C-130s to Israel, at a cost of approximately 60 million euros. The aircraft will have to be dismantled in order to be transported by ship to Israel and maintained there, to change propellers and accessories. The question is whether a wing box change is required when disassembled. Something that even “Lockheed Martin” can not guarantee, as it no longer has a production line for the Greek C-130B and C-130H, as it has been for years in the era of the new C-130J. Three more C-130s are at ODA facilities, one at the state-owned aircraft factory and three at Tanagra.
“K” addressed the ODA workers’ union. Representative Panagiotis Andrianos noted that at present they do not have any information about privatization, however he noted that ODA and “Lockheed Martin” have been cooperating for more than 30 years, referring, among others, to the F-16, C-130 and P -3. Regarding the situation of the C-130s, Mr. Andrianos referred to the staff shortages that arose due to the memorandum and noted that ODA can respond up to a point. He was in favor of the recruitment, however, against the “contracting” of the project, ie assignment to third parties outside ODA.
