Air Force Special Ops eyes flying demo for amphibious MC-130J next year

摘要

The Air Force is seeking to hold a flying demonstration for an amphibious capability tied to the C-130J cargo plane in the latter part of calendar year 2022, the head of the service's Special Operations Command said today. Calling the timeline "a very aggressive schedule for something of this nature," Lt. Gen. Jim Slife said the demonstration for the MC-130J Commando Ⅱ Amphibious Capability would include a single airplane "to validate the models we've built and the data we've predicted through the digital engineering threat." The demonstration results could then be used as a basis for making decisions about fielding capabilities more broadly, he added in comments during a media roundtable at the Air Force Association conference here this morning. "With respect to procurement and when we'd be fielding this capability, it's going to depend on how that [demonstration] turns out and what the performance trade-offs would be required in order to field that capability," he said. "So, we haven't made any decisions on whether we'd field that for the entire fleet or a number of kits that would be available when needed."