C-130J Super Hercules Fleet Expands

by Lockheed Martin

The first of five C-130J Super Hercules airlifters designated for delivery to Little Rock Air Force Base (AFB), Ark., in 2013 was ferried to the base on Aug. 20 from the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta. 

This aircraft is the first new C-130J for Little Rock AFB since 2009.

Maj. Gen. Margaret Woodward, director of the Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office of the Vice Chief of Staff, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, flew the Super Hercules (Lockheed Martin aircraft serial number 5728) to Little Rock AFB. Woodward is a command pilot who has flown nine aircraft variants, including the C-130J.

Little Rock AFB is the home of C-130 combat airlift. From basic qualification training with the 314th Airlift Wing (Air Education and Training Command), to combat-focused, battle-ready operators in the 19th Airlift Wing (Air Mobility Command), to lifetime local instructors in the Air National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing and Air Force Reserve Command’s 22nd Air Force, Detachment 1, Team Little Rock provides the United States a center of excellence for “cradle-to-grave” C-130 war-fighting capability. 

Little Rock AFB is home to more than 90 C-130 E, H and J models. These new C-130Js will recapitalize legacy model Hercules aircraft scheduled for retirement. Little Rock AFB received its first C-130J in 2004.

Fifteen countries have chosen the C-130J Super Hercules to meet their air mobility needs. The C-130J is the proven standard by which all other airlift is measured in terms of availability, flexibility and reliability in combat and non-combat environments.

The C-130J worldwide fleet recently surpassed a landmark 1 million flight hours, logging these hours through numerous combat, special operations and humanitarian missions. Thirteen C-130J operators — including Little Rock crews — 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.