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Last MC-130J Delivery Marks End Of USAF’s Specialized Hercules Orders
The last U.S. Air Force MC-130J takes off from Lockheed Martin’s Marietta, Georgia, facility on Dec. 13, 2024.
The U.S. Air Force in mid-January received the last Lockheed Martin MC-130J Commando II special operations variant of the Hercules, marking the final delivery of the service’s specialized version of the aircraft.
The delivery was the 64th for the MC-130J fleet and the 134th total number of MC-130Js, AC-130Js and HC-130Js. The service still awaits deliveries of new-build C-130Js, but no additional specially modified versions are expected.
Air Force Special Operations Command accepted the last aircraft in December. It then received additional mission-specific modifications at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, before the Jan. 14 delivery to Cannon AFB, New Mexico, according to an Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) video posted Jan. 22. The modifications include specialized communications gear, a blue force tracker, modifications to the aircraft’s ramp to manage air flow and a relocation of a very-high-frequency antenna, the video showed.
The Air Force accepted the first MC-130J to Cannon in 2011, with the 13-year delivery program serving as an example of a “quintessential Air Force acquisition program” to develop, field and sustain a specialized capability, AFLCMC Commander Lt. Gen. Donna Shipton says. The overall HC/MC-130J program began in 2008.
While deliveries are completed, the service and U.S. Special Operations Command are conducting upgrades of the MC-130J fleet. These include integration of the Raytheon AN/APQ-187 Silent Knight terrain-following/terrain-avoidance, low-probability-of-intercept/low-probability-of-detection radar, along with a new communication suite, an airborne mission network and radio frequency countermeasure improvements.
The last AC-130J was delivered in November 2022 and the final HC-130J was ordered in 2021. The Air Force is still ordering new-build C-130Js through congressional adds, a point former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall took issue with on his way out of the role.
During a Center For Strategic and International Studies event on Jan. 13, Kendall told lawmakers that ending C-130 orders could be an “efficiency,” adding “we have enough.”
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