Luftwaffe C-130Js to have special operations capabilities

German C-130Js are to be equipped for the SOF role, a senior Luftwaffe official has disclosed. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)

Germany is to equip its Lockheed Martin C-130J transport aircraft for the special operations forces (SOF) role, it was revealed in late November.

The Head of the Air Transport/Jet/Unmanned Aircraft System Branch at the German Air Force Command, Colonel Stefan Kleinheyer, made the disclosure during the SAE Media Group Military Airlift and Air-to-Air Refuelling conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

The SOF capabilities consist of equipping the aircraft for high altitude low opening/high altitude high opening (HALO/HAHO) parachuting, forward arming and refuelling point (FARP), and special operations surgical team (SOST) missions, Col Kleinheyer said, without detailing further.

Germany has to date taken all three C-130J-30 airlifters, with the same number of KC-130J-30 tankers to follow by 2024.

The Luftwaffe aircraft are part of the Franco-German Binational Air Transport Squadron (BATS) ‘Rhein/Rhin’ stationed at the French Air and Space Force’s (AAE’s) Air Base 105 in Évreux-Fauville.