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OKLAHOMA CITY (BNS): The US Air Force has awarded an additional $61 million contract to Boeing for the Avionics Modernisation Programme (AMP) of two C-130 aircraft.

Under the contract, the company will supply kits and two Aircrew Training System devices as part of a low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract that was awarded in 2010.

Boeing is building two new C-130 AMP Aircrew Training System devices: a Weapon System Trainer and an Avionics Part Task Trainer.

The training devices will be developed at supplier CAE USA's Tampa, Florida, facility and delivered to the Arkansas Air National Guard C-130 AMP training center at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, in 2014.

This is the second Air Force contract in three months that approves the purchase of more AMP kits for the C-130 Hercules. In December, an Acquisition Decision Memorandum authorized the LRIP programme to increase from 20 to 26 aircraft.

A total of six AMP kits have been approved for purchase and the two at Warner Robins, Georgia, are the first to be installed. The third C-130 scheduled for LRIP will be inducted in late 2011 and the fourth in early 2012.