Lockheed Martin has extended its contract with Marshall Aerospace to conduct maintenance on British C-130s. Above, a U.S. Air Force C-130J on display at Farnborough // Staff.

Lockheed Martin has extended its C-130 Hercules maintenance and repair deal with Britain’s Marshall Aerospace to include the replacement of center wing boxes.

Marshall Aerospace is a long-time partner with Lockheed on the refurbishment of the U. K. company’s popular airlifter.

Now the two sides have signed a deal that will expand the scope of work the Cambridge, U.K.-based company undertakes on the C-130 as a third party maintenance, repair and update provider.

Marshall is the design authority on the K variant of the Hercules in the U.K. and is the only third party company in the world cleared for heavy maintenance on the current J  version.

The company is responsible for the maintenance of the Royal Air Force fleet of C-130.

The center wing box is the main load-bearing part of the C-130′s airframe and the part of the structure that normally determines the operational life of the aircraft.
Steve Fitz-Gerald, Marshall Aerospace’s chief executive, said in a statement released as the show opened that the extended deal “will position us perfectly for long-term C-130 fleet sustainment.”