At Elefsina Air Base is the beastly C-130J aircraft, which takes part in the exercise “Stolen Cerberus”which is ongoing and in which officers of the Greek and American Armed Forces are co-trained.

THE Larry GalloglyDirector of Customer Requirements, Air Mobility & Maritime Missions (C-130J) Line of Business, of the manufacturing company Lockheed Martin as well as the pilot of the aircraft Dylan Neidorff of the US Air Force, 86th Airlift Wing, serving at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, spoke to APE – BPE about the advantages of the modernized model, its areas of excellence, but also about cooperation and the importance of interoperability between the US Armed Forces and Greece.

This year, the American Air Force is “present” at Elefsina Air Base for the exercise “Stolen Cerberus” with three C-130J aircraft.

As Dylan Neidorff said we are here “to work together on a technical and procedural level with 356 Hercules Squadron with an emphasis on interoperability.”

“We fly together to develop NATO cooperation. Squadron 356 hosts us, grants us its facilities. We plan joint exercises and tactics with the Greeks,” he added.

On his part, Mr Larry Gallogly emphasized that “the Hellenic Air Force is given the opportunity to get first-hand information about the C-130J model” which is the newest version of the “Hercules” aircraft.

And he went on to point out that the C-130J might be an aircraft “that the Hellenic Air Force is thinking about for its future.”

“It’s not immediately noticeable, but the C-130J aircraft is 15 feet (about 5 meters) longer than the previous model (‘Hercules’),” he explained, adding: “This extra capacity means you can do more with less. aircraft. Something very beneficial.”

“The other big difference,” he said, “is in the navigation systems. The modernization and electronic upgrade allows us to go from an aircraft that has two pilots, a navigator, an engineer and two load handlers to an aircraft with two pilots and a load handler.”

The “Stolen Cerberus” exercise has been taking place since 2013 and every year in Greece with the aim of increasing the level of operational readiness, combat capability, mutual understanding, exchange of know-how and interoperability during the design and execution of Special Operations. Officials of the Armed Forces of the USA and Greece are participating.