2015
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The US Air Force is set to initiate a multi-billion dollar Lockheed Martin C-130X avionics modernisation programme (AMP), following recommendations by an Air Mobility Command C-130 study team. USAF leaders are also considering the study group's recommendations for a powerplant upgrade and acquisition of 150 new C-130J-30s. The group, known as a Tiger Team, was formed to consider problems with the C-130 Hercules transport, including its reliability and maintainability and lack of global air transportation management (GATM) avionics. With 44 versions of the aircraft operating with the USAF, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, the intention is to reduce to two basic …
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WASHINGTON — Six U.S. service members and five contractors were killed in a C-130 crash at Jalalabad Airport in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said late Thursday. The crash, which occurred just after midnight Friday Afghanistan time, involved a C-130J assigned to the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, which is part of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing. The airport at Jalalabad, located about 100 miles east of Kabul, is used only for military and United Nations flights. In a post online, the Taliban claimed they had shot down the aircraft, killing 15 “invaders” plus several Afghan “hirelings.” However, U.S. Air Force Maj. Tony Wickman, a spokesman for the 455th said, “Ene…
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he 86th Airlift Wing held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the new C-130J Super Hercules Flight Simulator Aug. 24, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The project is a result of a collaborative effort, as the simulator itself is owned by Air Mobility Command but housed in a U.S. Air Forces in Europe and 86th Airlift Wing building. "A big thank you goes to ... the collaborative effort," said Col. Eric Mayheu, AMC Aircrew Operations and Training Division chief. "This has been a project ongoing for the past seven years. This design, this building, this device and everything else that needs to come online took seven years to be able to have what you have …
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The plane has just arrived from North America for the Australian bushfire season and performed a practice water-bombing exercise near Richmond air base in north-west Sydney. The air tanker can drop more than 15,000 litres of water or fire retardant on a blaze within a few seconds. It has a loaded cruising speed of 545 kilometres an hour, meaning it will be able to reach most fires in the state within one hour. Emergency Services Minister David Elliott said the aircraft would be a welcome sight for residents in fire-prone areas. "The people of NSW will be able to rest easy tonight, the first day of spring, knowing that Thor will be in the skies looking out for them," M…
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Residents of Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania had the chance to see a rare formation of nine C-130 aircraft as the culminating event of a week-long C-130 Round-Up skills competition and training event held here, Aug. 23-28. Aircrews and Aerial Porters from Youngstown Air Reserve Station (YARS); Mansfield Lahm Air National Guard Base, Ohio; Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia; Bradley Air National Guard Base, Connecticut and Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, New York, participated in the event. Planning for the C-130 Round-Up began after a similar annual competition, Air Mobility Command’s C-130 Rodeo, was cancelled due to budgetary restraints. Planners from YARS wa…
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On 26 August, an Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare) C-130J transport aircraft flew a pediatric ground ambulance, with the patient onboard, to Ciampino Airport. The six-month-old baby, who was suffering from severe respiratory problems, had been admitted to the neonatal unit of the Sassari Hospital on the island of Sardinia. The mission took place in order to effect a transfer to the Bambino Gesù specialist pediatric hospital in Rome. The request for air transport, needed to enable the young patient to reach a medical specialist, was sent first from the treating hospital to the Prefecture of Sassari, and then on to the Air Force, which ordered the immediate dispatch…
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The seventh C-130 at the Ohio National Guard's 179th Airlift Wing at Mansfield Lahm Airport has a new name. About twenty-five local government and community leaders from Ashland were at the base Thursday for the dedication of the Spirit of Ashland, with Mayor Glen Stewart having the honor of unveiling the plant's new name. Of the eight C-130's at the 179th, another two planes remain to be re-named for local communities. The dedication of the Spirit of Crestline will be in two weeks and there will be a dedication of a C-130 for the community of Galion. The others are the Spirits of Mansfield, Shelby, Clear Fork Valley, Ontario, and Lexington. View original article …
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It’s been a busy year for the mighty Hercules. Despite the Air Force’s push for a toned-down Avionics Modernization Program (AMP), there have been a number of significant upgrades and modifications. In April 2015, a bill was introduced and referred to the Committee on Armed Services relating to the modernization of C-130 aircraft to meet applicable Federal Aviation Administration regulations. New upgrades will include 8.33-Khz radios, cockpit video recorders, flight visual recorders, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), enhanced Mode S, and enhanced traffic alert and avoidance systems. At $3.8 million per plane versus $20 million per plane under AMP, the A…
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A U.S. Coast Guard C-130 landed safely at Kona International Airport Friday after a midair hydraulic failure led to the declaration of an emergency landing at 10:44 a.m. It was originally reported the landing gear would not come down, raising the possibility that the airplane would have to land on its belly, said FAA Southwest Region spokesman Lynn Lunsford. Firefighters responded to the airport and watched the airplane come in for a landing with gear deployed. Lunsford said there were no injuries reported. The C-130 Hercules is a transport aircraft used for multiple missions, including dropping life rafts, dewatering pumps or dispersant for oil pollution control. On …
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MANILA, Philippines – United States Ambassador Philip Goldberg on Monday said there are two C-130 planes anticipated to be delivered in the country in the first quarter of 2016. “We help support Philippine modernization through excess defense articles, there are two more C-130s in the pipeline,” Goldberg said during the turnover and commissioning of eight brand new Bell-412EPs and two attack versions of AgustaWestland AW-109E. Goldberg added that US government also supports the Philippine military modernization through its foreign military funding which was pegged at $50 million in 2014. With the anticipated mission-ready C-130s from the US, the Philippine Air Forc…
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The Arkansas Air National Guard is close to completely taking over a new mission that has prompted growth in its number of personnel and aircraft over the past two years. The National Guard's 189th Airlift Wing, located at Little Rock Air Force Base, has trained instructors on the C-130H -- aircraft designed to airdrop troops and equipment into hostile areas -- since 1986. In October 2013, the U.S. Air Force added to the 189th's responsibilities, tasking it with training all C-130H flight crews, from the U.S. and partner nations, and bumping up the number of airmen it trains annually from about 350 to about 800. Col. Dom Sarnataro, commander of the 189th Operations Grou…
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MARIETTA, Ga., Aug. 17, 2015 – Crews from the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Coast Guard recently ferried two C-130J Super Hercules aircraft from the Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) facility here. The Air Force crew ferried a C-130J-30 to Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, while the Coast Guard crew ferried an HC-130J to New Mexico to be painted. It will then be flown to Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina View full article
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PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- The National Interagency Fire Center has made the request to increase the number of DOD Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System-equipped C-130s aiding in the suppression of California wildland fires from two to four Aug. 14. Two Air Force Reserve MAFFS equipped C-130 Hercules from the 302nd Airlift Wing here along with aircrews and support personnel from the Colorado Reserve wing have been activated and performing fire-fighting missions from McClellan Air Field, California, since Aug. 3. The Air Force Reserve C-130s will be joined by aircraft and crews from the 153rd AW, Wyoming Air National Guard and the 145th AW, North Carolina ANG. As …
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MANSFIELD, Ohio -- In keeping with tradition, the 179th Airlift Wing dedicated another one of its aircraft to a local community--this time recognizing the City of Shelby. A dedication ceremony was held Thursday afternoon at the 179th Airlift Wing, drawing attendance from several Shelby officials. A total of eight C-130 Hercules aircraft exist at the base, each of which are to be named in honor of a local community. So far, planes have been dedicated to Mansfield, Lexington, Clear Fork Valley, Ontario and Shelby. On the 179th's list for future dedications include Ashland, Crestline and Galion. Read more... View full article
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The first flight of an Israeli air force Lockheed Martin C-130H equipped with a new avionics suite is expected to take place soon, according to a senior officer from the service. "The new suite will make the cockpit very similar to operate to that of the C-130J we have recently put into service," says the officer, with work on the legacy transport almost complete. Israel's C-130H avionics upgrade is being conducted by Elbit Systems at the air force's Nevatim base. The package of enhancements will allow the tactical transport aircraft to meet the stringent international Communications Navigation and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management standard for operations in commercia…
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The Air Force has joined the battle against the Rocky Fire north of San Francisco. Firefighters have gone to Herculean efforts to try to stop the massive fire, but the blaze is not close to being contained. The fire scorched 62,000 acres as of Monday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Four Air Force C-130s equipped with the Modular Airborne Firefighting System are operating out of McClellan Airfield in Sacramento to provide the equivalent of close air support to firefighters on the ground. Two of the C-130s are with the 302nd Airlift Wing, an Air Force Reserve unit based at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado; and the other two C-130s come from the 146th Airlift …
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HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AFNS) -- The first AC-130J Ghostrider landed here July 29, making it Air Force Special Operations Command’s first AC-130J. After completing the initial developmental test and evaluation by the 413th Flight Test Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, the aircraft will be flown by the 1st Special Operations Group Detachment 2 and maintained by the 1st Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron during its initial operational tests and evaluations at Hurlburt Field. “Putting it through these tests will allow us to wring out the AC-130J in a simulated combat environment, instead of the more rigid flight profiles in formal developmental testing…
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US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) plans to fit high-energy-laser active denial systems onto some of the AC-130J Ghostrider gunships currently under development. "We're not always going to kill people in our sights, sometimes we just want them to stop what they're doing … active denial weaponry is key to all of this," Lieutenant General Bradley Heithold, AFSOC commander, told the Directed Energy Summit, as quoted by IHS Jane's. The Active Denial System (ADS), often referred to as heat or pain rays, is meant to quickly heat the surface of the skin causing unbearable pain by firing a beam of 94-Ghz microwaves. The beam affects only the surface of the skin bu…
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The US Air Force has kept some Lockheed Martin AC-130U gunships marked for retirement for use as directed energy weapon testbeds as the service pursues airborne lasers for offensive and defensive uses. Maj Gen Jerry Harris, vice-chief of Air Combat Command, says a number of gunships that would have otherwise been sent to the boneyard are now being used to test emerging directed energy technologies, like lasers and microwave energy guns. “We have a requirement for a minimum number of gunships,” Harris said at a 28 July Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments directed energy summit in Washington. “We have some additional U-models we will fly longer for test beds.” …
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The Air Force’s prototype AC-130J Ghostrider gunship is grounded, pending investigation of an in-flight incident that occurred during a test sortie from Eglin AFB, Fla., earlier this year, according to Air Force Materiel Command. The aircraft “returned to base and safely landed without further incident or any injuries to the crew" after the April 21 mishap, the command told Air Force Magazine in a statement on Monday. AFMC officials on June 15 elevated the accident from a Class-C mishap after "structural analysis suggested damage greater than the $2 million monetary threshold for a Class-A incident," reads the statement. The AC-130J prototype suffered a similar mishap whe…
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The 440th Airlift Wing will live on, at least for another year. Air Force Reserve Command has pushed back the inactivation of the unit until at least fall 2016. The 440th had been slated to be inactivated in September, the latest in a series of end dates that have been proposed since the unit was marked for inactivation in March 2014. The latest delay was announced by Col. Karl Schmitkons, commander of the 440th, in a July edition of the unit's newsletter, Combat Airlifter. In the newsletter, Schmitkons says the reduction in force that was set for Sept. 30 was canceled, along with a planned clearing house for the unit's civilian employees and Air Reserve technicians. …
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7/10/2015 - ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- A fourth C-130H Hercules was delivered June 20 at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, and its significance can be traced back to planners, program managers, engineers and maintainers at Robins. Prior to its delivery to the Afghan Air Force, it first made a stop here for something quite interesting and unique - the complete separation of the aircraft's nose from its fuselage in March 2014. The move to build a C-130 fleet in support of the AAF - which received its first two C-130s in the fall of 2013 - will bring increased tactical airlift capabilities for troops engaged in various missions, as well as resup…
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AAR, a provider of aviation services has been awarded a five-year, approximately $72 million Complete Logistics Support (CLS) Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract to sustain a fleet of C-130H aircraft on behalf of the Afghan Air Force. Under the contract with the U.S. Air Force, AAR will provide all operational, maintenance, logistics and technical functions needed to support and sustain fleet readiness requirements within Afghanistan. See more at: http://www.arabianaerospace.aero/aar-wins-contract-to-support-afghan-c-130-fleet.html#sthash.ys7J4u6x.dpuf View full article
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STRATTON AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, SCOTIA, N.Y. - Three New York Air National Guard LC-130s and nearly 75 Airmen from the 109th Airlift Wing will depart for Kangerlussuaq (gang-er-loose-sue-arc), Greenland, Monday, July 13 in support of the National Science Foundation. The wing has been providing their annual Greenland support this year since April; Monday will mark the fifth rotation. Mission support to the Arctic region continues through the summer. WHO: About 75 Airmen, including aircrews, LC-130 aircraft maintainers, cargo processors and other support personnel, will deploy for the fifth rotation of the Greenland season. WHAT: Every summer, Airmen and aircraft with t…
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The U.S. Forest Service is making one of their HC-130H air tankers, Tanker 118, available for wildfire suppression missions this week. The aircraft is one of seven that are being transferred from the Coast Guard to the USFS, but the titles for all of them still remain with the Coast Guard. The work on Tanker 118 to completely convert it into an air tanker is not complete. It needs a conventional internal gravity-based retardant tank, and obviously, a paint job that will hopefully include some professionally crafted tanker numbers on the tail. Tanker 118 arrived at McClellan Airport on June 17, where maintenance, installation and testing of the Modular Airborne Firefight…
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