Transport aircraft defective, Pentagon inspector says

Monday, April 12, 2004 | 9:03 a.m.

The planes, delivered at a cost of $2.6 billion starting in 1999, do not meet "operational requirements," forcing the military to rely on older C-130 aircraft, Inspector General Joseph Schmitz, 48, said in a March 29 summary of a review obtained by Bloomberg News.

The Pentagon's assessment may make it more difficult for Lockheed to sell the plane to U.S. allies, said Richard Aboulafia, director of aviation research at Fairfax, Virginia-based consultancy Teal Group. Lockheed developed the C-130J in the early 1990s to replace the C-130 Hercules, the most widely used aircraft for hauling troops, vehicles and cargo.

"The C-130J was supposed to be a quantum leap in capabilities," Aboulafia, 40, said. "If the evaluation is accurate, it implies the technical problems have outweighed the gains. Until the situation is corrected, it doesn't augur well for more C-130J export contracts."

The summary of the inspector general report, which will be completed by June, didn't identify the faults with the planes. The final report may make non-binding recommendations to the Air Force, which purchases the planes, to revise contracts, delay some payments until deficiencies are corrected. The report also is likely to be scrutinized by Congress, which approves funding.

Peter Simmons, Lockheed's spokesman for the C-130J program, said the company hadn't seen the inspector general's report on the C-130J. We can't comment on something we haven't seen," said Simmons.