WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Representative Tony Gonzales (TX-23) joined a bipartisan letter led by Representatives Barry Loudermilk (GA-11), David Scott (GA-13), Cheri Bustos (IL-17), and Darin LaHood (IL-18) urging U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary Lloyd Austin to consider a multi-year procurement program for the C-130J. The Texas Air National Guard (TXANG) uses the C-130J aircraft to support different domestic operations such as providing humanitarian relief following natural disasters.

Read the full text of the letter here. 

“By design, the C-130J provides significant operational/support savings, more operational capability per aircraft, lower life-cycle costs, common logistics/training support, and improved active duty/air reserve component interoperability,” said the letter. “We respectfully urge the department to increase the FY2023-2028 planned procurement requests for C/HC/LC/KC-130J during the annual budget process and report back to the congressional defense committees on a business case for a C-130J Block Buy or a MYP-IV.”