Boeing announced Monday that it has completed the first test flight of the third C-130 test aircraft that it has fitted with new cockpit displays and communications and navigation gear as part of the Air Force’s C-130 avionics modernization program. The two-hour flight of this test aircraft, a C-130H3 model, from Boeing’s facility in San Antonio, actually occurred on Jan. 17—three weeks ahead of schedule—according to the company, but it wasn’t announced until now. The aircraft accomplished both functional check flight and acceptance check flight tests. Boeing finished installing the new avionics gear on the H3 test aircraft late last year. The aircraft will soon join the two other test aircraft, an H2 and an H2.5 variant, in the AMP flight test program, which is already 81 percent complete, the company said. Under AMP, the Air Force intends to modify the avionics on 221 C-130 H2, H2.5, and H3 models.
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.