LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark -- The C-130A entered service in 1956. Over the next four decades, the C-130 Hercules earned a reputation as the nation’s airlift workhorse. As such, the ‘Herk’ was never mistaken as a thoroughbred built for speed, nor a one-trick pony built to be great at a single mission.
For 43 years, the Hercules conducted every mission imaginable for a cargo plane: airdrops, night vision operations, close-air support, air refueling, terrain following low-level, drop BLU-82 bombs, and many other missions. The C-130 proved itself as a warhorse during combat in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Although the Herk went through many minor redesigns, Lockheed Martin gave the workhorse its most massive redesign ever in 1999. It became leaner, cutting crew size by 40 percent and bigger by adding 33 percent more pallet size. The redesign also made the C-130 faster, increasing the cruise speed 21 percent and stronger by shortening take-off distance by 41 percent. The new model became greater in endurance and reliability making it ‘super.’ Thus the C-130J was re-born as the C-130J Super Hercules.
Although many C-130 old timers were reluctant to trust this new workhorse, the C-130J has proven itself to be, hands-down, the most versatile, capable, and survivable airlift aircraft in the air mobility inventory. For 20 years, the C-130J has also proven itself to be the modern warhorse, operating 18 of 20 years in combat in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa.
Twenty years after the re-design, the C-130J remains the world’s most capable airlift aircraft as we prepare for uncertain future conflict. In the next 10 years, with the 8.1 electronic modification, the workhorse will increase its ability to fly in any airspace, civilian or combat, providing its crews information-age capability in GPS, communications, worldwide air traffic airspace capability, and interoperability with command and control.
Have no doubt that as the C-130J turns 40, it will still be in the inventory hacking the mission and setting the bar for the airlift fleet as the old warhorse continuing to reliably press on with little fanfare or show.