Marshall has received a £11m extension to its longstanding contract with Lockheed Martin to manufacture and supply cockpit trim panels for the C-130J Super Hercules airlifter. Since 1996, Marshall has manufactured more than 1,000 cockpit trim panel kits – including panel and reveal kits in addition to escape hatch and cover kits – for installation into every C-130J produced by Lockheed Martin. The panels are manufactured from phenolic glass fibre sandwich structures with a Nomex honeycomb core, followed by finishing operations such as painting, electrical assembly and integration. These are provided to Lockheed Martin’s production facility in Marietta, Georgia, as lineside kits of plug and play parts.
“Lockheed Martin and Marshall have a long-standing relationship, rooted in the Super Hercules global fleet. This contract provides us all with the opportunity to expand our pivotal partnership while supporting the worldwide C-130J operator community,” said Tom Baxter, director of Supply Chain for Lockheed Martin’s Air Mobility & Maritime Missions line of business.
Carl Morse, Managing Director of Advanced Composites for Marshall, said, “This fresh commitment from Lockheed Martin demonstrates the confidence our customers have in our stellar record for on-time delivery and quality of production. We are incredibly proud of the fact that our kits are part of every C-130J aircraft currently supporting fleet operators around the world.”
The Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. The C-130J is a comprehensive update of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, with new engines, flight deck, and other systems.The C-130J is the newest version of the C-130 Hercules, and the only model currently in production. As of March 2022, 500 C-130J aircraft have been delivered to 26 operators in 22 countries. Externally similar to the classic Hercules in general appearance, the J-model features considerably updated technology. These differences include new Rolls-Royce AE 2100 D3 turboprop engines, Dowty R391 six-bladed composite scimitar propellers that have blade tips swept by 35 degrees, digital avionics (including head-up displays (HUDs) for each pilot), and reduced crew requirements.
Marshall Group, formerly Marshall of Cambridge,[citation needed] is a British company headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Subsidiaries include Marshall Aerospace, an aircraft maintenance, modification, and design company located at Cambridge City Airport. Since 1909, the company technology and engineering expertise has enabled us to provide mission-critical support for customers ranging from global armed forces and aircraft manufacturers to supermarket chains. With a growing footprint across the UK, Europe, North America and the Middle East, Marshall currently employs around 2,000 people – all united behind a shared purpose of successfully solving problems that others walk away from, coupled with an inherent instinct to do the right thing.
