With the 55+02, the German Bundeswehr has taken over another machine of the type C130-J Super Hercules. The Air Force has ordered a total of six. The first aircraft was already taken over in February 2022 and bears the registration 55+01.

Together with the French Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace, the Luftwaffe is building a squadron in Evreux. Germany and France will share aircraft, technicians, soldiers and infrastructure. Initially, four French Super Hercules C-130Js will take off, two of them in the tanker version. In 2024, the squadron will be complete with an additional six German machines. The association will then have a total of around 300 soldiers from both nations.

What is special about this association is the complete integration: for the very first time, French and German pilots, mechanics, avionics technicians and technical cargo masters live, train and work together here. Binational crews fly the missions and on the ground German and French machines are also maintained together.

The fleet of the Franco-German air transport squadron will consist of ten Lockheed Martin Super Hercules aircraft: five C-130J-30 and five KC-5J (tanker version). France provides two C-130J-130 and two KC-30J. Germany provides three C-130J-130 and three KC-30J. The C-130J-130 is the long version of the C-30J, the KC-130J has aerial refueling capability.

The four French aircraft were delivered between January 2018 and February 2020 and are currently still based at Orléans-Bricy. The first German Super Hercules was delivered on February 19, 2022. The others will follow at intervals of about six months, so that the fleet will be complete by 2024.