Marshall Aerospace is marking five years since the start of its historic contract to provide depot-level maintenance for the United States Marine Corps’ (USMC) fleet of KC-130J tanker aircraft.
The contract was one of the largest in the company’s history when it was awarded in 2020 by NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center Yokosuka after a rigorous international competition.
Since then, the relationship has continued to move from strength to strength: in fact, following the arrival of the second input in Cambridge in October 2021 there has always been at least one USMC aircraft in work in Marshall’s hangars.
Serving the world’s largest C-130 tanker fleet
The USMC is the single largest global operator of KC-130J tankers (also known as “KJs”), a specialised variant of the C-130J that retains the base model’s multi-role support capability while also providing air-to-air refuelling to keep other aircraft on mission longer.
To date, the USMC has taken delivery of 74 KJ aircraft, with many more on order. Marshall has now worked on a total of 42 of these aircraft, including some of the first and the most recent aircraft to join the fleet.
Since 2020, Marshall has supported all five of the USMC squadrons that operate KJ aircraft, which are based in diverse global locations ranging from Iwakuni, Japan to Cherry Point, North Carolina.
Packing in the PMIs
The majority of USMC inputs arriving at Marshall fall into two categories: minor depot inspections (MDIs) and planned maintenance intervals (PMIs).
An MDI is a quick routine inspection—roughly equivalent to a “B check” in more general aviation maintenance terminology. A PMI, by contrast, involves extensive maintenance, and is comparable to a “D check” in terms of time taken and scope of work.
In total, Marshall has now inducted 37 MDIs and 15 PMIs, amounting to more than 420,000 hours spent working on USMC aircraft alone. As many as six USMC aircraft have been kept in flow within the hangars concurrently, demonstrating the team’s exceptional resource management and commitment to service.
Marshall has also provided extensive technical support for the USMC, including adapting to issues such as limited availability of aircraft parts, complex engineering solutions, and one-off aircraft structural and manufacturing repairs caused by damage or heavy corrosion. To help resolve these challenges, the company’s in-house manufacturing team has produced over 1,500 parts to date for USMC KJ aircraft under Authority to Manufacture from Lockheed Martin.
The results of these efforts were made clear in the USMC Contractor Performance Assessment Report (CPAR) covering the February 2024 - January 2025 period, in which Marshall received “Exceptional” ratings in the categories of Schedule and Supply, and “Very Good” ratings for Quality, Cost Control, Management and Engineering.
The report noted that Marshall had “successfully maintained constant surge capacity operations” and praised the company’s managers for their “keen ability to quickly adjust production plans and schedules and contain a broad range of risks to deliver on time to contract delivery dates.”
“It has been our privilege to serve the United States Marine Corps fleet for five highly productive and successful years.
“We are grateful to FRC WESTPAC for their constant guidance and support, and we look forward to building on our incredibly solid relationship as we continue to provide on-demand availability.”
Chris Dare
Director, MRO Services and Solutions, Marshall Aerospace
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