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Two C-130 military cargo planes are due for commissioning this year to boost the Air Force’s airlift capability. Armed Forces chief Gen. Ricardo David Jr. said yesterday during bade farewell to the major services and thanked them for supporting his eight-month stint.

David said that one of the secondhand C-130s is currently undergoing repairs and refurbishments in an aircraft facility in the Mojave desert in California.

The other is now undergoing recovery at Clark Field, he added.

David said the Air Forces expects the C-130s to be delivered between April and July this year. “We are improving the (airlift) capability of the AFP,” he said.

David said it’s a lot cheaper acquiring the two C-130s than buying brand-new ones.

At present, the Air Force has only a single C-130 in operations after another plane plunged into Davao Gulf in 2008.

The Hercules aircraft is now on standby at Villamor Air Base for possible evacuation operation of stranded Filipino workers in Libya.

Aside from the delivery of two C-130 aircraft, the Air Force is also expecting delivery early next year of another secondhand C-130 now undergoing repairs in Malaysia.

Formerly owned by the Tunisian Air Force, the C-130 cargo plane figured in a “runway excursion” years ago.

The plane was recovered and subsequently sold by a US-based defense contractor to the Department of National Defense for P1.7 billion.