§ Earl Attleeasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the current planned retirement date for the Royal Air Force's Hercules C130K fleet; and 11WA whether Jane's Defence Weekly of 27 June 2001 is correct in asserting that the RAF's Hercules C130Ks were originally scheduled for retirement in 2004; and [HL2269]
What would be the effect on availability of the Royal Air Force's Hercules C130Ks if they were run beyond their scheduled retirement date; and [HL2271]
What would be the approximate annual cost of running the Royal Air Force's Hercules C130K fleet beyond its scheduled retirement date. [HL2270]
§ Lord BachThe original out-of-service date for the RAF's Hercules C130K was 2004 but this date has since been revised.
Current plans for the last element of the rolling programme to replace part of the C130K fleet with C130Js are for two of the C 130K aircraft to be retired by 30 April 2002 and one aircraft to be retired towards the end of 2002. There are currently no detailed plans for the decommissioning of the remaining 26 C130Ks which is predicted to occur by around the end of this decade.
The current cost of maintaining the C 130K fleet is some £31 million per annum and it is reasonable to assume that the cost of supporting individual aircraft would increase as the fleet ages. Any decision to extend its operational life would therefore take into account the costs of maintaining the aircraft to meet operational demands.