The RAF has a total of 25 C-130J C4/C5 aircraft. The C4 is almost the same size as the older C3 (C-130K) aircraft, but with a slightly shorter fuselage, while the C5 is the same size as the C1. The C-130J has been modified and upgraded to include new Allison AE turboprop engines and Dowty Aerospace six-bladed composite propellers. The new engines and advanced propellers, coupled with a new digital engine-control system, give the C-130J increased take-off thrust and better fuel efficiency; thus the external fuel tanks have been omitted. The aircraft also has a revised flight deck with modern glass-cockpit and head-up displays, allowing two-pilot, flight deck operation. The cockpit of the aircraft is fully night-vision compatible with the use of night-vision goggles. A separate air loadmaster station has been established in the cargo hold. The aircraft has been cleared for wider use in the tactical TS role and is used for operational missions involving parachute ops and air despatch.

The defensive-aids suite includes a missile warning system linked to the directional, infrared countermeasure system, a radar warning receiver and a chaff and flare dispensing system. The defensive system helps protect the aircraft against surface-to-air and air-to-air infrared seeking weapons that may be encountered during operations.

A bit of History

The C-130 is perhaps one of the oldest addon on our project list. Its jumped up and down the priority list so many times its hard enough for us to keep track of it ourselves.

Anyway I started making the Hercules for an OFP project that got more and more drawn out, eventually stalling and coming to a grinding halt. Later I remade the model entirely in 3DS Max for a commercial job, a "company video" for a UK aerospace manufacturer. Not long after that I ported the new model into ArmA. Which meant reducing the poly count and - sadly - removing a lot of detail. Not so much that it changed the basic shape, but deleting features that gave the model a lot more character.

We had a list of addons that were 'needed' for other projects and required less scripting etc. So it didn't make sense to devote so much of our time on a single project when we could complete 3 other projects at the same 'cost'. A decision that has proved to be the right one over time. We've learnt so much about the arma engine, scripting and model creation from the other projects that we've got to a point we're finally happy - ok maybe 'happier' is more accurate - with what we are making. But the biggest reason for a pause in development was practicality. I mean, without the cargo system the C-130s were really pretty useless. Set dressing only, or for use as a parachute jump platform. Given the size of the average ArmA Clan/Squad and the size of Sahrani it hardly seemed worth the effort making a plane that can drop 70 people when only 8-10 would ever use it. So we decided to shelve it until we had the scripts to make it a viable addon.

The Future

Of course now we have the cargo system in ArmA1 and we are converting it to ArmA2 the Hercules has become far more relevant than it was before. After the release of the UK helicopters its likely to be a very high priority project again.

Planned Features

• Detailed and Fully instrumented cockpit and HUD
• Cargo system Integration
• Integrated Chaff & Flares
• Radar Warning System (FCSS Required)
• Easy Re-Skin setup