ISLAMABAD, May 20: The Pakistan Air Force will get five C-130 planes cockpit upgrade kits from the United States to improve operational capabilities of the ageing fleet of its main transport aircraft.

The United States Air Force has awarded the six million dollars contract to Rockwell Collins for supplying avionics kits to the PAF.

A spokesman for the PAF said that the air force would be getting the upgrade kits for its current fleet and added that it was one of components of the $75 million agreement with the US government that also included the sale of six C-130 aircraft to Pakistan.

The upgrade contract will be completed in a year and it is expected that the PAF will start getting the deliveries by the later part of 2008.

“The upgrade project would help us benefit from the technological advancements on C-130s,” said the PAF spokesman.

Although, the details of what would be covered under the upgrade package have not been disclosed, but it has been learnt that the avionics and display systems company is likely to provide communication, navigational and surveillance system including Flight 26X8 inch multi-function displays, AN/ARC-210 radios, SAT-2000, multimode receivers, automatic direction finder and high frequency data link upgrades.

After the upgrades the C-130s are expected to have improved situational awareness, reduced crew workload and enhanced flight safety features.