Tunisia's first C-130J rolls out

28 Jan 2013 by Craig Hoyle – FG

London - Tunisia's first of two C-130J tactical transports has been painted at Lockheed Martin's Marietta site in Georgia, USA, and the aircraft is "due for delivery later this year", the company says.

Already carrying the Tunisian air force registration Z21121, the stretched-fuselage Hercules will be used for airlift duties and also to perform humanitarian relief tasks, Lockheed says.

Tunisia's current air force inventory includes seven C-130Bs and one H-model Hercules, Flightglobal's MiliCAS database says. The oldest of these first entered use in 1959.

Lockheed received a contract in February 2010 to deliver the new-generation transports, the schedule for which calls for one aircraft to be handed over during 2013 and one in 2014.