For nearly seven decades, Lockheed Martin’s C-130 Hercules has been the backbone of tactical airlift operations worldwide. With more than 1,500 aircraft in service across 60+ nations and over 40 variants produced, the C-130 remains the world’s most widely operated military transport aircraft.
The latest variant, the C-130J Super Hercules, continues this legacy—supporting demanding missions such as tactical insertion, special operations, and operations from austere and unprepared airfields. As threat environments evolve, so must the aircraft’s survivability systems.
In 2019, the German Luftwaffe, operating within the Franco-German Binational Air Transport Squadron (BATS), selected the C-130J to support high-risk tactical and special forces missions—driving the need for a significantly enhanced Defensive Aids Suite (DAS).
The German C-130J fleet was required to operate at low altitude, in contested environments, and from unprepared landing zones—placing aircraft and crews at heightened risk from:
The Luftwaffe required a state-of-the-art Defensive Aids Suite that could deliver immediate protection while remaining adaptable for decades of future upgrades.
Key requirements included:
Additionally, Germany mandated the use of best-in-class national sensor technology, requiring the integration of HENSOLDT’s AAR-60 Missile Warning Sensor in place of the baseline configuration—without delaying aircraft delivery.
For Lockheed Martin, meeting customer mission requirements was non-negotiable, but custom modifications on a production aircraft introduce schedule, cost, and certification risk.
The program demanded a trusted integration partner capable of:
Lockheed Martin and the German Air Force selected Terma to deliver the solution.
At the core of the solution is Terma’s ALQ-253 Defensive Aids Controller—a platform-independent, subsystem-agnostic integration backbone trusted across fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft worldwide.
The DAC correlates sensors and effectors into a single, coherent Defensive Aids Suite—providing centralized control, processing, display and automated countermeasure coordination.
For the German C-130J fleet, Terma:
This approach allowed Germany to tailor its Defensive Aids Suite while preserving commonality, scalability and long-term flexibility.
With the C-130 expected to remain operational for decades, Germany required a system that could evolve without costly and lengthy upgrades.
In 2024, Germany initiated the integration of a DIRCM capability to counter advanced infrared threats. Terma’s ALQ-253 DAC enables this upgrade seamlessly by:
The DAC’s high-performance architecture, featuring three multi-core processing units, provides the computing power not only for DIRCM and future EW growth—but also for advanced capabilities such as:
This ensures the platform remains operationally relevant well into the future.
Terma understands that survivability upgrades succeed only when engineering excellence is matched by execution discipline.
For the German C-130J program:
Even the Defensive Aids Suite training documentation was embedded in the aircraft delivery package to ensure crews were operational from day one.
Typical Terma integration timelines: 3–6 months, not years.
Terma’s family of Electronic Warfare Controllers currently protects more than 2,500 fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft worldwide, providing the survivability backbone for allied air forces across multiple platforms.
This program demonstrates how Terma’s modular, scalable EW architecture:
Terma will be showcasing its latest Electronic Warfare and Defensive Aids solutions at the Singapore Airshow. Air force operators and partners interested in C-130 survivability upgrades, DIRCM integration, and future-proof Defensive Aids architectures are invited to meet our team and discuss how Terma can support their fleets.
Visit Terma at Hall A – Booth A12 to learn more.