NEW YORK, December 29, 2025, 21:53 ET
- Lockheed Martin is pitching the C-130J Super Hercules for India’s planned procurement of up to 80 military transport aircraft.
- A Lockheed executive said India is the only location under consideration for a C-130J co-production line outside the United States.
- Embraer and Airbus are among rivals in the medium-transport contest, while some Indian media reported the IAF has shelved a follow-on C-130J purchase.
Lockheed Martin has offered to set up a C-130J Super Hercules final-assembly line in India as the Indian Air Force (IAF) moves toward buying up to 80 military transport aircraft, a PTI report carried by local media said. 1
The pitch lands as India tries to modernise the air force’s transport fleet, a workhorse capability used to move troops, vehicles and relief supplies across long distances.
It also underscores New Delhi’s push to tie major defence buys to local manufacturing, forcing overseas contractors to show how much work they will shift to India.
Lockheed says the India line would be its first C-130J final-assembly facility outside the U.S. “India is the only place we’re considering a C-130J co-production line outside the US,” said Robert Toth, a vice president at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. 2
In 2022, the IAF issued a Request for Information (RFI) — an early market survey — for a medium transport aircraft (MTA). The programme aims to replace ageing Soviet-era An-32 and Il-76 planes. The IAF plans to procure around 80 aircraft in a multi-billion-dollar programme likely to be cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council, the defence ministry panel that vets big-ticket purchases; Embraer’s KC-390 Millennium and Airbus Defence and Space’s A400M are among contenders, PTI reported. 3
The IAF currently operates 12 C-130Js. Lockheed said more aircraft would boost tactical airlift within the Quad security grouping of India, the U.S., Japan and Australia. The company says it has delivered more than 560 aircraft in the C-130J family and the fleet has logged more than three million flight hours. 4
Tactical airlift refers to moving people and cargo quickly over shorter distances, often into austere airstrips closer to the action.
Lockheed executives said the company can deliver aircraft to India faster than rivals because it already produces the C-130J at scale, Hindustan reported. 5
Lockheed’s pitch builds on its work with Tata Advanced Systems. Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures in Hyderabad makes C-130J tail assemblies that are shipped to the U.S. for integration, and the plant recently delivered its 250th tail, Rediff.com reported. 6
Bharat Samachar TV separately reported that the air force has dropped plans for a follow-on purchase of additional C-130J aircraft and is prioritising the MTA programme instead. 7
For India, the contest pits promised delivery schedules against local industrial work and long-term maintenance support, as the air force looks to standardise a fleet built from multiple foreign platforms.
For Lockheed, a win would make India a second production centre for the C-130J, extending a decades-old programme at a time when new orders are increasingly tied to local assembly.
