C-130J Super Hercules

The Hercules, rebuilt

From the outside a C-130J looks like any Hercules, the tactical transport that has carried troops and cargo into rough airstrips since the 1950s. Inside and up front it is a different aircraft: new Rolls-Royce AE 2100D3 turbopropsTurboprop GlossaryFlight: A gas turbine that drives a propeller through extra turbine stages, which extract most of the exhaust gas energy as shaft power. Working on a much greater mass flow, it is more efficient than the turbojet in subsonic…, six-bladed composite Dowty propellers with scimitar tips swept back 35 degrees, digital avionics with a head-up displayHUD GlossaryJoint terms: Head-up display. A special type of flight viewing screen that allows the pilot to watch the flight instruments and other data while looking through the windshield of the aircraft for other traffic, the approach lights… for each pilot, and a smaller crew. [1] One visible giveaway is a black rubber de-icing boot at the base of the fin. [1]

The first customer was not American. The Royal Air Force placed the launch order on 16 December 1994, after months of argument in the British government about whether to buy European or American. [1] Development was not smooth. The extra engine power and the switch from four-bladed to six-bladed propellers changed the aircraft’s aerodynamics so that it was more inclined to stall and roll at low speed. After five months and 20 unsuccessful attempts at an aerodynamic fix, Lockheed Martin fitted a stick pusher that pushes the nose down automatically if the pilot ignores a stall warning. [1] The new engines also produced too little bleed air to keep the tail free of ice, which meant a bigger de-icing system and another five months’ delay. [1] The first C-130J flew on 5 April 1996. [1]

Fewer people, more performance

A cargo C-130J needs only two pilots and a loadmaster; the navigator and flight engineer of older Hercules are gone. [1] Compared with the C-130E and H it climbs faster and higher, flies farther at a higher cruising speed, and takes off and lands in a shorter distance. [2] Its integrated navigation systems let it drop loads in cloud without markers on the drop zone. [2] The stretched C-130J-30 is 15 ft longer, using two fuselage plugs. [2]

The hold is about 41 ft long, 9 ft high and 10 ft wide, loaded through a rear ramp. [1] A C-130 can seat 92 combat troops, or 64 paratroops who jump from doors on each side behind the landing-gear fairings or off the ramp, or carry 74 stretchers on medical evacuation flights. [2]

Every service’s workhorse

The US Air Force began buying C-130Js in 1996 to replace its C-130Es and Hs, starting with the combat delivery aircraft that drop troops and supplies. [2] The basic airframe has become a family. The Marine Corps’ KC-130J refuels fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters in the air and on the ground, and with the “Harvest HAWK” kit it becomes a gunship firing Hellfire or Griffin missiles in support of troops, a kit that can be removed within a day. [1] [2] The WC-130J of the Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, the only Defense Department unit with the mission, flies into the eyes of hurricanes to gather data on active storms. [2] The Navy is studying it to replace the E-6B as a survivable nuclear communications aircraft. [1]

US Air Force and Marine Corps Super Hercules flew extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan, and C-130Js from several nations supported operations over Libya in 2011. [1] On 20 August 2013 an Indian Air Force C-130J landed at Daulat Beg Oldi in Ladakh, at 16,614 ft the highest landing ever made by a C-130J. [1] By March 2022, 500 had been delivered to 26 operators in 22 countries, and it is the only Hercules still in production. [1]