Through Administrative Decision 1145/2021, the Argentine Ministry of Defense awarded the Direct Contracting for the «Inspection and Modernization of the TC-100 Aircraft», for a total of 5,318,000 dollars for materials and 1,026,736,080 pesos (10,200,000 dollars at the official exchange rate) for labor.
TC-100 FAdeAIncorporated in December 1982, the TC-100 was actually Lockheed’s L-100-30 demonstrator (N4170M) which due to legal issues first received the registration LQ-FAA, then LV-APW, and in 1998 finally the current TC-100. The aircraft had been built in 1981 and is, therefore, the newest Hercules in the entire FAA fleet. It initially sported a white scheme with red and then blue lines.
The Lockheed Martin L-100 is the civilian version of the legendary C-130. Production of the L-100 began in 1964 and ended in 1992 with 114 aircraft built. The production line for the civil version was reopened in 2018, following the launch of the LM-100J.
Uruguay took delivery late last year of two Lockheed Martin KC-130H ex-Spanish Air Force, retired to make room for the Airbus A400M. Both aircraft are C-130Hs with a half-life tour and modernization performed in 2000 and were acquired for US$ 22 million, as stated by the Uruguayan Ministry of Defense.
Two other KC-130H ex EDA were acquired by Peru for US$35 million. Peru is another military operator of the L-100, and the purchase of these two aircraft restores its in-flight refueling capability, lost after the retirement of the Boeing 707-323C FAP-319, a civil aircraft delivered to American Airlines in 1968 and modified for the FAP by Bedek.
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