A Lockheed Martin C-130 tactical transport belonging to the Turkish air force has suffered a catastrophic structural failure while over the Republic of Georgia.

Video circulating on social media shows what appears to be a portion of the aircraft’s fuselage spiralling downward and ultimately impacting the ground. The four turboprop engines can be seen still affixed to the wing structure.

Turkey has confirmed the incident, which occurred on 11 November.

“One of our C-130 military cargo aircraft, which was taking off from Azerbaijan to come to our country, has crashed at the Georgia-Azerbaijan border,” the Turkish defence ministry said in a post to social media site X.

The ministry adds that search and rescue operations are underway in coordination with authorities in both Georgia and Azerbaijan.

US-funded media outlet Radio Free Europe reports that 20 people were onboard the flight, citing officials in Ankara.

Turkey operates a fleet of 18 legacy-model C-130B/E transports, according to fleets data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. These were modernised to the C-130EM standard, which includes updated cockpit avionics and digital communications.

However, the airframes themselves are still decades old, with ages ranging from 51 to nearly 67 years, according to Cirium.

The crash comes just weeks after Turkey finalised a deal to buy a dozen ex-Royal Air Force C-130J-30s, the last of which were withdrawn from use by the UK service in 2023. Those transports will be delivered to the Turkish air force following the completion of maintenance and modernisation work by Marshall Aerospace.

Fatigue issues with the long-serving C-130 family have been a known challenge for over a decade. Multiple efforts have been undertaken by global operators to replace original C-130 centre wing boxes to address structural fatigue and extend service life.

Earlier this year, Lockheed Martin demonstrated in a laboratory setting that the Enhanced Service Life (ESL) C-130J wing structures the company has been installing since 2009 can remain safely viable for up to122,500 equivalent flight hours – a nearly 40% increase from the previous 90,000h assessment and almost triple the original lifespan of 45,000h.