Written for Flightglobal
Cascade Aerospace is leveraging its experience in the management and maintenance of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s (RCAF) C-130E/H Hercules fleet into the international marketplace.
The company is looking to provide comprehensive upgrades and maintenance, along with ongoing support to the “legacy” Hercules fleet. There are over 1,000 aircraft worldwide, with 800 in the U.S. forces. The remaining 200 aircraft flying with other countries will need to be modernized to continue operations beyond 2020. This represents an upgrade market worth between CA$750 million and CA$1 billion.
In 2006, Cascade was awarded the contract to be the Primary Air Vehicle Optimized Weapons Systems Manager (PAV OWSM) for the RCAF C-130E/H fleet. Fleet management includes in-service support, aircraft modification, engineering, and MRO of aircraft structures and systems. The programme shifted the management of hundreds of MRO and support contracts from the Air Force, to a single point of accountability.
“The contract model frees the RCAF to actually fly their planes,” Rick Renard, Cascade’s Director, Business Development. “The model has increased aircraft availability by 10-15%, lowered costs, and provided the RCAF with more cost certainty. There are a lot of countries interested in this model, which is performance-based [and] measured against aircraft availability.”
In November 2013, Cascade acquired its first international customer with a contract to modernize two of the Mexican Air Force’s C-130K transports. The agreement includes an extensive Programmed Depot Maintenance programme (PDA), an upgrade to the Rockwell-Collins “Flight2” integrated avionics package, and the incorporation of the “short pod” Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) modification.
The work is being performed at Cascade’s Abbotsford, British Columbia headquarters. When the modernization is complete, the C-130s will be returned to the Mexican Air Force in an “almost new” condition.
“Lots of firms like us can do this, but what we bring that’s a little different is our knowledge of the Canadian fleet,” says Renard. “What I tell people is to look at what Canada has done with a very moderate budget, and to scale your solution to your budget and requirements.”
Flightglobal’s Ascend Fleets database records the RCAF as operating 12 E/H-model Hercules. Cascade also provides in-service support for Canada’s new-generation C-130Js, 17 of which are in use.