2015
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15 May 2015 - The USAF retired its last two MC-130Ps in a ceremony at Hurlburt Field today. View article here: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/local/final-flight-hurlburt-air-force-say-goodbye-to-mc-130ps-photos-video-1.478758 Image credit: Hurlburt Field (Official) Facebook Page View full article
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All clear! Another C-130 Super Herk heads south to Moody AFB. HC-130J 12-5768 c/n 5768 View the Tweet: https://twitter.com/LockheedMartin/status/598952198509338624 What do you think about the replies to Lockheed's Tweet? View full article
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DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas – The 317th Airlift Group here has developed training, tactics and procedures for C-130Js flying within contested, degraded or operationally constrained environments or CDOs. With modern-day technology, equipment that sends or receives an electronic current or signal can potentially be affected by an enemy. The new method of navigating the aircraft allows pilots to manually correct their navigation systems, keeping them on their flight path. The aircraft's predecessor, the C-130H Super Hercules, required a navigator who determined positioning using visual recognition of landmarks and distinguishable topography. The crews would rely primarily …
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LONDON — A Royal Air Force C-130J Hercules is set to take to the air in the next few days to recommence trials of a major upgrade to the aircraft that is so late it has already been rolled into a subsequent improvement program. Fitted out with an extensive suite of software and hardware improvements known as Block 7, the British C-130J kit installation trials aircraft is set to undertake months of operational test and evaluation (OT&E) work ahead of being further modified by prime contractor Lockheed Martin with additional capabilities known as Block 8.1. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said British flight trials on the Block 8.1 improvements are set to be completed…
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The flying life of the RNZAF's fleet of C130 Hercules planes is expected to be extended until 2022, Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee has revealed. The aircraft, which are known as the Air Force's work horses, mark five decades of service this year. Over the last 10 years the Government has spent more than $250 million upgrading the planes with the aim of extending their flying life until 2020. But Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee says the Hercules upgrade has brought them an extra couple of years. "Although they are fifty, they have been substantially refurbished, arguably fly better than they have ever done and can run through to about 2022". Used extensively in the P…
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Operation Eagle Claw is known as the “most successful failed mission in history.” It was a joint-services mission to rescue Americans held hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Iran in 1980. Hurlburt Field recently held a recent ceremony honoring those who died during the operation, and the valuable lessons learned as a result of what happened. On November 4th 1979, a group of Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran taking 66 citizens hostage. Thirteen were eventually released. After five months of failed negotiations to secure the release of the remaining 53 hostages, officials in the Carter Administration turned to the Air Commandos from Hurlburt Field, “…
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GREENVILLE, S.C. – Airmen from the North Carolina and Wyoming Air National Guard conducted annual Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) training along with their partners from the U.S. Forest Service here, during the week of May 4, 2015. Col. Tom Brown, a MAFFS navigator and director of operations of the Air National Guard Office at the North Carolina National Guard, Joint Force Headquarters explained the well-established relationship between the 145th Airlift Wing, the 153rd Airlift Wing of Wyoming and the U.S. Forest Service. “We have been training with our sister unit the 153rd long enough now that we can operate with mixed air and ground crews and function …
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5/6/2015 - YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan -- As U.S. efforts to support the Government of Nepal recover from the earthquake that struck the country April 25, the 374th Airlift Wing sent four C-130 Hercules and accompanying personnel to aid Joint Task Force-505 in its mission. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated Central Nepal, resulting in more than 7,000 people reported dead and 14,000 more injured in days since the incident. As the only tactical airlift capability in the Western Pacific, Yokota's 36th Airlift Squadron is extremely capable of supporting the JTF in its efforts, as they consistently train and exercise to operate in this same exact type of environment, says Ca…
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David Pirie is a technical sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, but he has a much cooler title: dropmaster. He's part of the crew of a "Hurricane Hunter," one of the snub-nose C-130 cargo planes the Air Force has retrofitted to fly into storms to gather data. The thing Pirie drops out the belly of the massive plane is tiny - about the size of a mailing tube. The orange parachute that hangs off it looks like it could fit a plastic Army man. But the information it gathers from hurricanes is huge. Pirie showed off the tool - called a dropsonde - on Tuesday. One of the Air Force's 10 Hurricane Hunters was at Norfolk International Airport as part of the National Oceanic and Atm…
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MARIETTA, Ga., May 1, 2015 – Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] recently delivered a KC-130J Super Hercules tanker and an HC-130J Combat King II personnel recovery tanker to the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force, respectively. The KC-130J was delivered to the Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 234 (VMGR-234) at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas, and the HC-130J was delivered to the U.S. Air Force’s 347th Rescue Group at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. View original article: View full article
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5/1/2015 - POPE ARMY AIRFIELD, N.C. -- U.S. Air Force and British Royal Air Force Mobility Airmen and 25 aircraft conducted the largest multinational Combined Joint Operational Access Exercise over the last 20 years alongside U.S. Army and British soldiers here Apr. 10 through Apr. 17. The purpose of this exercise was to prepare United States Transportation Command units, Air Mobility Command, Royal Air Force forces and elements of the 82nd Airborne Division and British Army's 16 Air Assault Brigade to respond as part of the Global Response Force and to conduct Joint Forcible Entry operations. The GRF is a force dedicated to maintaining the capability of deploying on sh…
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Sweden has begun reducing its operational Lockheed Martin C-130H Hercules fleet as it looks for a replacement for the ageing airlifters, a service official disclosed on 29 April. Speaking at the home of F17 Wing’s forward dispersal base on the island of Gotland, Colonel Marcus Bjorkgren, Chief of Staff of the Swedish Air Force (SwAF), said that two of the country’s eight C-130H aircraft had been flown to Marshall Aerospace in the UK, where they are to remain. “We have six C-130s now being operated, with two parked at Marshalls. We may go down to four, and we will hopefully have something else [as a replacement]in the future,” he said. Having received the first of its C…
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C-130 News: Tester and Daines working for C-130 upgrades for the Montana Air National Guard
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GREAT FALLS - U.S. Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Steve Daines (R-MT) are working to keep the Montana Air National Guard flying. During a recent meeting of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, Tester announced he was introducing legislation to make sure the C-130 fleet of the 120th Airlift Wing is upgraded. Tester said, “My fear is we end up with a fleet of C-130s that is incapable of operating in domestic air space, and they will end up sitting on a runway somewhere until they are mothballed.” The Federal Aviation Administration has set a deadline for the upgrades for 2020. Tester's bill will give the Air Force the budgetary flexibility it needs to implem…
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According to ISPR, the 30-bed hospital will be run by Pakistan Army doctors including Surgical, Medical, orthopedic, gynecologist, anesthesiologist, child specialist, radiologist and paramedics. An urban search and rescue team of Pakistan Army which is highly specialised for rescue during natural disasters is also part of the mission. The urban search and rescue team is equipped with ground penetrating radars and concrete cutters. The team is specially trained to search people trapped in rubble. It will also carry sniffing dogs. Food items include 2,000 meals, ready-to-eat packs, eatables and bottled water. The team is also carrying medicines, 200 tents, 600 blankets an…
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The House Armed Services Committee advanced an amendment sponsored by Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke that will now go to a full vote as part of the 2016 National Defense Authorization Bill. The amendment directs the secretary of the Air Force to prepare a brief to the committee by Sept. 1 that assesses the locations of C-130 Military Airborne FireFighting Systems. "Montana and other Western states have seen devastating wildfires rage through our lands, taking entire communities and leaving countless fatalities in their wake," Zinke, R-Mont., said in a release. "My amendment will allow the Air Force to improve wildfire readiness and move firefighting capabilities to western …
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Lockheed Martin has landed aircrew and weapons training contracts worth $80 million in total from the US Air Force, Executive Biz reported Tuesday. The order includes the deployment of an air mobility command weapon systems trainer and loadmaster part task trainer for the C-130J Hercules transports at the Yokota Air Base in Japan; spares, equipment and technical support for the KC-130J; and related maintenance services, Lockheed said Monday Company officials said Lockheed strives to upgrade its training systems to match evolving aircraft platforms in support of the warfighter’s mission readiness objectives. “Lockheed Martin is applying more than 20 years of C-130 traini…
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POWIDZ AIR BASE, Poland — Air Force members left Powidz Air Base, Poland, April 17 after completing bilateral training with the Polish air force. The training featured two C-130J Hercules from the 37th Airlift Squadron, two C-130H aircraft from the 302nd Airlift Wing and military personnel from around Europe. “Flying in Poland affords the 37th AS a tremendous opportunity to accomplish training that we’d otherwise have difficulty obtaining,” said 1st Lt. Kenneth Hertzler, 37th AS co-pilot. “Our time with the Poles was important for all of us because our air forces were able to exchange with one another in terms of experience and ideas. With that exchange, we’re able to c…
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The L-382G that Coulson is converting into an air tanker was at McClellan earlier this week for static testing of the tank system and will be in Lancaster, California on May 4 for grid tests. The L-382G is the civilian version of Lockheed’s C-130H-30, which is the stretched H model. The tank has a capacity of 36,000 pounds. There is not much agreement about the exact weight of retardant, but Britton Coulson said they expect to carry about 4,250 USG. “Even with a full tank and 3 to 4 hours of fuel”, Mr. Coulson said, “we are still almost 20,000 pounds under our max gross weight so we are still no where near maxing out the airplane.” The interior of the L-382G showing…
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Military budget constraints prompted the Air Force to again cancel an international military competition typically held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord every other year. The Air Force had been expected to restore its biennial Air Mobility Rodeo at JBLM this summer. It announced Friday that the financial pressures that led it cancel the event in 2013 are again forcing it strike plans for this year’s competition. In past years, the rodeo has brought hundreds of airmen from the U.S. Air Force to JBLM for several days of events testing their abilities against each other and against counterparts from France, Germany, Israel, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. They’re tested on skills ra…
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KADENA AIR BASE, Japan (AFNS) -- The 17th Special Operations Squadron sent off the final two MC-130P Combat Shadows in the Pacific Air Forces to retire on April 15. The 17th SOS highlighted the beginning of the MC-130P Combat Shadow retirement with one final formation flight on Oct. 16, 2014, at Kadena Air Base, but now they have sent their last ones to the “boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. "Today is bittersweet as we say goodbye to these amazing aircraft," said Lt. Col. Nathan T. Colunga, the 17th SOS commander. "I have spent less time in the MC-130P than most, only 11 years, but these aircraft have executed every time we've truly needed them to ove…
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The U.S. Air Force is winnowing down its fleet of EC-130H Compass Call electronic attack planes. The 15 high-tech jammers belong to the 55th Electronic Combat Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. But if the flying branch has its way, it will retire seven at the turn of the fiscal year in October, according to the Pentagon's budget request. They're few in number, but highly important planes. These are same EC-130Hs that twice shut down Saddam Hussein's air defenses, and helped American pilots and troops return home alive from the conflicts in Kosovo, Haiti, Panama, Serbia and more recently Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Compass Calls are heavily-modif…
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Cascade Aerospace has completed a first test flight of the Mexican Air Force's (FAM) upgraded C-130K Hercules aircraft from its base in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. In November 2013, the company received a contract as part of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the Canadian and Mexican Governments, for maintenance and modernization of FAM's two C-130K aircraft. The C-130K maintenance and modernization program was initiated in 2014. It involved an upgrade of the avionics system. including the installation and integration of Rockwell Collins Flight 2 avionics suite, digital fuel quantity indication, and engine instrument display systems. The aircr…
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Acquisition of transport aircraft to replace the SA Air Force’s (SAAF) ageing C-130BZs has, by at least one account, been underway for close on a year. Diplomatic sources have indicated South Africa, as a country, requested information on pricing and availability of C-130s last May. This information was delivered during the Africa Aerospace and Defense (AAD) exhibition at AFB Waterkloof in September. While the number or model of aircraft is not mentioned, it is believed the SAAF is keen on acquiring the J model which Lockheed Martin has been actively marketing to the airborne arm of the SA National Defense Force (SANDF) for some time now. The source told defenceWeb tha…
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A congressionally mandated Air Force review of the service's C-130s backs up all of the service's decisions to move and retire parts of its Hercules fleet, but fails to allay concerns from lawmakers who are poised to block those plans. The Air Force in March finalized a report on C-130 force structure, which was mandated in the fiscal 2013 National Defense Authorization Act. That year, the Air Force attempted to retire dozens of C-130s, but was blocked by Congress, which then required the service to produce a report on the savings and strategic decisions behind the moves. The Air Force kept a minimum of 358 aircraft during the review. The service is now moving to reduce…
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Members of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VR) 62, based at NAS Jacksonville, are one of five Navy Reserve C-130T squadrons supporting the fleet around the globe. The VR-62 Nomads regularly execute detachments in Pacific Command and Central Command. The normal Navy C-130 rotation is to complete three theater detachments per year. During the detachment cycle, the squadron’s remaining aircraft are tasked by the Navy Air Logistics Office for missions in support of the fleet in all parts of the world. The Navy C-130 wing is part of the unique Fleet Essential Airlift – meaning that the U.S. Navy has control of its own airlift. The Fleet Logistics Support Wing is a Navy R…
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