What upgrades are planned for the C-130s?

Actually, looking at the cutaway pic that I posted, this would be the proposed production model. The 30mm GAU-8 Avenger cannon (39) was not available during flight testing for either the A-9 or the eventual winner, the YA-10. So the pitot tube (36) would have been omitted from the production model. Instead, a 20mm Vulcan gun was fitted on both models during flight testing. There’s more info and pics here.

I also came across this slight variation in the A-9 concept that was originally considered by Northrop (although this might be Fairchild given similarities in the wing design to the eventually A-10 design), proposing a single rear turboprop engine rather than jet engines and a completely different tail configuration.

There doesn’t seem to be any planned production drawings on the Internet, but I came across this that might be useful:

Isn’t the recent Thai selection for the JAS-39C/D variant (that will replace their Tigers) and they won’t be completely delivered until about 2017 at the latest? So the NG isn’t a necessity for the Swiss. If the Swiss really want to save money, they could buy or lease ex-Swedish AF JAS-39A/Bs (some of the fleet has/or will be retired) and get Saab to upgrade them to C/D. Also, without looking for the figures that were claimed by South Africa, buying Gripen would also provide Swiss industry with quite good financial offsets.

I still wouldn’t necessarily take Colonel Moussez’s words as necessary correct, even if it has been written in a known newspaper. He’s not going to exactly say that it’s a rubbish plane particularly when it’s struggling to get any export orders. I read something similar in Dassault Aviation’s literature somewhere, where the commanding officer of a French AF or Navy squadron was “quoted” as saying that it was better than everything else. The “interview” sounded no more than a marketing piece. I’ll have to find that.

Wouldn’t surprise me, but there are alot of press reports that are just speculating at the moment. The Ministry of Defence is looking at streamlining and centralising flying operations to single bases to save money. Waddington would be an odd choice though given that is now the base for the RAF’s ISTAR aircraft. Maybe Leeming would be the more obvious choice with Hawks (100 Sqn) already there. Iv’e never understood why the Red Arrows are based at Scampton anyway. It seems a bit odd in these days of the MoD trying to save money that one base has only a handful of aircraft based at it, even if the Red Arrows do spend most of their summers moving around the country.

When is the new investigation findings due to be published about that incident? I always wondered about the accusation that it was the pilots to blame. Indeed, I flew in Chinooks shortly after the incident and they were suffering from engine problems then.

Does anyone know what other inputs the Dutch aerospace companies had in the development of the F-16 MLU?

I came across this site, it’s pretty detailed on the MLU.

http://home.wanadoo.nl/tcc/rnlaf/mlu_back.html

I guess that Holland Signaal Apparaten is now Thales NL.