C-130J worldwide fleet soars past one million flight hours
Above:
Troops from 3 Scots, The Black Watch, prepare to board a Royal Air Force Hercules C130J aircraft at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. The soldiers were on their way to Camp Bastion in Helmand province to carry out a 12 day operation.
Courtesy MoD, Crown copyright
Thirteen countries operating C-130Js, and members of Lockheed Martin’s Flight Operations and the US Government’s Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) teams contributed to this achievement. Hours were tracked beginning with the C-130J’s first flight on April 5, 1996, through the end of April 2013.
“There are a million reasons to pick the C-130J, as the Hercules continues to demonstrate the ability to fulfill any mission at any time,” said George Shultz, vice president and general manager of C-130 programmes at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company. “Not only is this milestone a testament to the capability of the C-130J Super Hercules, it’s also a reflection of the dedication displayed by crews and maintainers each day they fly a C-130J. Once again, the Super Hercules family continues to prove why the C-130J’s flexibility and versatility remains without equal.”
The C-130J is by many as having set the standard by which all other airlift is measured in terms of availability, flexibility and reliability. C-130Js currently are deployed in two combat theatres and are operating at a very high tempo efficiently and reliably.
In non-combat — but equally harsh environments — C-130Js are often the first to support humanitarian missions such as search and rescue, aerial firefighting in the US and delivering relief supplies after earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons and tsunamis around the world.
Countries with C-130Js contributing to these flight hours include (in order of delivery) the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Canada, India, Qatar, Oman, Iraq, Tunisia and Israel (now in flight test for a summer 2013 delivery). In the U.S, C-130Js are flown by the Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, Air National Guard, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard units. Fifteen countries have chosen the C-130J as an airlifter of choice —including Kuwait and the Republic of Korea, which will join the fleet with C-130J deliveries in 2014.
