Romania buys one more C-130 Hercules

Eight years after its acquisition, Romania remains the only country in the former communist Eastern Europe to operate C-130 Hercules aircraft

In 1996 Romania acquired its first C-130 Hercules aircraft. It was the first country in Eastern Europe to do so, and everybody thought that won't last long, for sure. But eight years passed already and Romania is still the only country in the region, in the former Eastern Bloc, to operate such aircraft. Furthermore, Romania sent almost ten thousand troops abroad to various conflict areas using its own C-130 aircraft, unlike most of the NATO allies who had to ask for the help of the US Air Force or rent Ukrainian planes. Even more, some of the new allies, such as Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria used the C-130's of the Romanian Air Force, which often carry both Romanian and Hungarian troops to various locations around the globe. In 2003, Poland was negociating the purchase of 2 second-hand C-130B's from the Italian Air Force, but the deal has not been signed yet.

Romanian Air Force C-130 Hercules tail 6150, while visiting Twenthe AFB in Holland

And in january 2004, Romania had acquired another C-130 Hercules, growing its fleet to 5 aircraft. Unfortunately, since the mass-media did not present this subject, neither in Romania or abroad, I do not know what version this C-130 aircraft is, nor the tail number, or if it's a new or second-hand aircraft. If you know these things, please e-mail me. The Romanian Armed Forces order of battle and modernisation plan, divided into several stages, called Force 2000, Force 2003, Force 2005, Force 2007 and Force 2010 is going according to schedule. And according to that schedule, between 1999 and 2003, the military had suffered drastic reductions in both equipment and personnel, while starting with 2004, the accent will be on the acquisition of new weaponry. The purchase of more C-130 Hercules aircraft, the replacement of Kalashnikov weapons with Tavos advanced machineguns, the acquisition of Romanian-made Hamster and Mowag Eagle vehicles, as well as Gepard AAA systems, GEC/Pfizer and updated FPS-117 and MMSR fixed and mobile radars means that this process has already started.

Links:
C-130 Hercules
Romania develops, produces and buys Mowag Eagle armoured heavy-terrain vehicles.
Romania replaces Kalashnikov's with Tavos machineguns.


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20th of january 2004

©2004 Sorin A Crâsmarelu