Lockheed Martin (www.lockheedmartin.com) will deliver 50 C-130J Super Hercules to the US government through a C-130J Multi-year III contract award finalised at the end of December.

This comes under an ‘Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity’ contract awarded in August 2016.

The Department of Defense awarded more than $1.5 billion in funding for the first 21 C-130J aircraft on the Multi-year award.

The overall award (worth more than $3 billion) provides Super Hercules aircraft to the US Air Force (24 HC/MC-130Js), Marine Corps (20 KC-130Js) and Coast Guard (options for six HC-130Js).

Aircraft purchased through the C-130J Multi-year III award will be delivered between 2021 and 2025; they will be built at Lockheed Martin’s Marietta (Georgia) facility.

Rod McLean, general manager of Air Mobility and Maritime Missions at Lockheed Martin, said: “The C-130J Multi-year III award represents a joint commitment between Lockheed Martin and the US government . . . Our partnership with the US government provides significant savings through multi-year procurement and provides the best tactical ‘airlifter’ to crews who fly and support the world’s largest Super Hercules fleet.”

The C-130J Super Hercules is generally regarded as the global standard in tactical airlift.

The world-wide fleet has more than 2 million flight hours, and the aircraft is the airlifter of choice for 20 nations.