Indonesian National Army Air Force plans to replace heavy transport aircraft C-130 Hercules of the elderly. According to the Air Force Chief Marshal Agus Supriatna, studies on the Hercules replacement candidate has been sent to the Ministry of Defence.

“Already we send away the day before A-1310 Hercules crash in Medan last week,” said Agus at Headquarters Air Force, last weekend.

In a study sent to the Ministry of Defense, Air Force targeted two types of heavy transport aircraft, the Airbus A400M Atlas and Antonov An-70. About the price of each is the domain of the Ministry of Defence.

The Antonov An-70 is a four-engine medium-range transport aircraft, and the first large aircraft to be powered by propfan engines. It is being developed by Ukraine’s Antonov design bureau to replace the obsolete An-12 military transport aircraft. The maiden flight of the first prototype took place on 16 December 1994 in Kiev, Ukraine.