60th year of the C-130

A Royal Air Force Hercules

2014 marks the 60th year since the first flight of the C-130 aircraft which is one of the most successful aircraft since the second world war. The C-130 or 'Hercules' as it is affectionately called, makes up 21% of the active military transport fleet in the world. That puts it top with a distant second place being the King Air making up 6%. The result is 900 Hercules in active military service around the world at this time, but it is no surprise as it is an effective tried and tested design.

The Hercules has many features that makes it so desirable amongst the world's market.  The aircraft is versatile as it does not require a fully prepared runway to land on and it has an extremely flexible cargo bay for transporting various loads.  The cargo bay also means that air drops are easy to achieve due to the ramp being possible to lower and allow cargo or paratroopers to easily drop out of the back.

The Hercules has been developed into many roles over its 60 year period however it is still most commonly used as a transport aircraft.  Other roles have included the gunship variant (AC-130) which is used for ground attack; air to air refuelling tanker variant (KC-130) and there are as well numerous other variants.

It is important to realise the grand scale of the use of the aircraft with over 2,300 having been built with operators in 71 different countries. One could easily claim it to be Lockheed's finest aircraft and those that fly it do seem to love flying it.

The Hercules has seen off its competition over the years and its latest competitor, the Airbus A400M, has also been struggling to compete with lengthy delays and significant cost overruns. The A400M does however have the backing of numerous European nations and will come into service starting this year with a greater payload and range to offer. The Americans are however looking to the next generation of strategic airlifters with a greater payload and range desired.

A brief look at the air-power of Russia and Ukraine

As tensions rise further between Russia and Ukraine we shall take a look at the aircraft the two countries could use to fight against each other if the situation deteriorates.  Hopefully any confrontation would only be with words and a military confrontation would be merely hypothetical.

Russia

Emblem of the Air Force of the Russian Federation

The Russian Air Force is a considerable fighting force, numerous in number and type of aircraft. It's main combat aircraft are as follows:

• 298 Mi-24/Mi-35 Attack helicopters
• 280 Su-24 Strike aircraft
• 225 Su-27 Air superiority aircraft
• 254 Mig-29 Multirole fighters
• 195 Su-25 Strike aircraft
• 131 Mig-31 Interceptors
• 107 Tu-22M Strategic bombers
• 65 Mi-28 Attack helicopters
• 58 Tu-95 Strategic bombers
• 41 Ka-52 Attack Helicopters
• 38 Su- 34 Strike aircraft
• 34 Su-35S Multirole fighters
• 30 Su-30 Multirole fighters
• 12 Tu-160 Strategic bombers

In addition to the aircraft listed are the numerous transport, refuelling, reconnaissance and electronic warfare aircraft. Due to the close proximity of Ukraine to Russia air to air refuelling would be used only a small amount if it all.

As well as these aircraft the Russian Navy also has aircraft it could possibly deploy however most are on its aircraft carrier which is part of the North fleet, far away from Ukraine. The main combat aircraft of the Russian Navy are as follows:

• 22 Su-24 Strike aircraft
• 21 Su-33 Fighter aircraft

The Russian Navy also has various anti submarine helicopters and transport helicopters at its disposal.

Ukraine

Emblem of the Ukrainian Air Force 

The Ukrainian Air force is a much smaller force than the Russian equivalent, however fighting on home soil might be an advantage.

• 80 Mig-29 Fghter aircraft
• 48 Mi-24 Attack helicopters
• 36 Su-27 Fighter aircraft
• 36 Su-24 Bomber aircraft
• 36 Su-25 Ground attack aircraft

The Ukrainian Navy also operates various anti submarine, maritime patrol and transport aircraft.  It also has a small number of assault aircraft

• 16 Helix-B Assault transport helicopters

Other key points

If a full on confrontation did occur between the two countries it cannot be guaranteed that western powers would not interfere so the inclusion of numerous other aircraft would then be easily possible. It would be an interesting conflict with many of the same aircraft fighting against each other, as a result it might be difficult with blue on blue incidents possible. Both military forces still use a considerable amount of old Soviet Union military hardware which is becoming more and more obsolete, but both have plans to update their military over time. In a military conflict Ukraine would also have its navy and ground defences to help but by the same token Russia could easily move its Navy in as it seems to be doing at the moment.

The Return of the airship?

In Cardington, Befordshire the world's longest aircraft has been unveiled and promises to cause a revolution. The aircraft, known as Airlander is being manufactured by UK company Hybrid Air Vehicles and is expected to be released into the market to fill a variety of roles.

Interestingly, the hybrid design of the airship means that 60% of the lift is provided by the helium filled balloon and the final 40% is provided by the shape of the balloon acting as an aerofoil. A benefit of using helium also is that it is inert which means that no repeat of the Hindenburg disaster is possible due to it not being possible for helium to catch fire.

The Airlander has the ability to land anywhere as long as it is reasonably flat and has enough space, this opens up the aircraft for use in disaster relief situations where airports might have been destroyed and remote areas cut off. Another benefit of this is that cargo can be delivered into the most remote areas, such as remote desert oil fields which, another market for the aircraft to sell to.

It is claimed that Airlander is 70% more green than current cargo aircraft with the ability to travel for days without refuelling, reaching far across the world at a time.

The US military had initially placed an order for the aircraft but due to the US budget squeeze it has had to cancel the project. The project would have seen Airlander flying at 20,000ft to gather intelligence in war zones. Due to the aircraft's endurance and range, Airlander could have stayed in one position for a long time studying movements on the ground and relaying the information back to base in real time.