Lockheed C-130 Hercules Prototypes, Variants & Projects

While a bit leary of the idea initially, I hope it works. Having the entire ocean, lakes, and rivers as runways sure seems a good idea in an age of extended range precision weapons.
 
Yesterday in Amsterdam, a Grey C-130 was misidentified as a private jet by some Greenpeace backed protestors contesting the wastage of private flights.

I guess that, now, every cargo crew rounding the world to feed and bring next to everything to everyone (and soldiers), from bullet to baby supplement can now hold proudly the front desk yoke their pinky raised: per definition, elitist they are (not).

View: https://youtu.be/MwT9oOrshqI
 
www.defensenews.com

Special ops airmen get fewer new gunships than promised

The Air Force is downsizing its special operations gunship fleet from 37 to 30 airframes.
www.defensenews.com www.defensenews.com

U.S. Special Operations Command originally planned to buy nearly 40 Ghostriders to replace three older gunships: the AC-130H Spectre, AC-130W Stinger II and AC-130U Spooky. Each of those 37 aircraft are now retired.

Rather than swap out the airframes one-for-one as expected, SOCOM wants to end the decade-long AC-130J acquisition seven short of the full program.
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GTX said:
TomcatViP said:
eurasiantimes.com

C-130J Super Hercules ‘Refuels’ M1 Abrams Tank; US Army & Air Force Hold Unique Joint Operations

The United States Army and Air Force recently carried out a Refueling Joint Operations in which they demonstrated how M1 Abrams tanks could be refueled utilizing a C-130J Super Hercules transport plane.
eurasiantimes.com eurasiantimes.com
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Doh! Here I was hoping that somehow they had miraculously worked out how a C-130 could carry a M1.
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Doesn't need to, Murdoch can fly them.
 
Kinda surprised the new AC-130J only had one 30mm cannon (and the 105mm howitzer). Maybe they should have kept the 25mm too for area suppression? Or two 30mms.
 
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Re the C-130 excessive loading story, it shows how far some well designed and constructed aircraft can go beyond their advertised tolerance limits. There are some crazy stories about SAAF C-130's and C-160's operating off dirt tracks deep in Angola and at night.
 
Another example of going in excess of the the tolerance limits is the El Al Boeing 747 evacuation Ethiopian Jews during operation Solomon. They eventually worked out that there were 1,122 people on the aircraft. 1,120 were on board at Take off but two babies were born during the flight.
 
During those mivtza Shlomo flights, the seats were removed and replaced by cables crisscrossing the fuselage above the floor, as creative "safety belts".

The IDF/AF had previous experience, with mivtza al Kanfei Nesharim (on Eagles' wings) evacuating 49,000 Yemeni Jews in 1949-50 after Israel purchased their freedom from the sultan. Of course it was piston planes then, DC-3s and such.
The major learning from that experience was that the hardest part is not so much flying them in, as one would think. It's what you do with them AFTER they're here. Lesson taken, it went much more smoothly in 1991.
 
Some back story information regarding the EC-130V

This is from "Aviation Week & Space Technology", September 26 - October 9, 2022, page 5 in the feedback section.

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

Responding to "A Little Bit Ruthless" by Brian Everstine (Sept. 12-25, p. 61), my comments are based on a career as former head of special avionics projects for the U.S. Coast Guard, chief of electronic maintenance in the performance engineering division for the U.S. Army Signal Corps and chief engineer for the 2762LSS/Det2 at Carswell AFB, Texas, for projects other than the Air Force. I was also a project manager for many well-known Army, Coast Guard and other government agency projects over the years, most of them classified, and it is to this aspect that I want to comment.

Many "one-off" projects are of the "Priority One" category: highest national urgency. These are done outside the normal contracting arena and as a result attract a lot of attention. In most cases, the claim is that the Air Force or Army is spending vast sums and get- ting nothing in return. Unfortunately, as the contracts and the subjects are classified, I was never able to comment at the time, nor are the individuals working on them today able to do so.

One project with which I was involved, the EC-130V, was an E-2C weapons system on a HC-130H supplied by the Coast Guard, which would require much more power, both on the ground and in the air, and also several industrial control systems (ICS) and redundant radio systems in all bands. Even before the contract was awarded, an article in "The Washington Post" by a former cabinet secretary said the project would have vast overruns and end up costing over $1 billion.

It was done on time and at cost, and it met or exceeded all requirements for around $57 million. We had planned on five aircraft, but the Coast Guard and Marine Corps decided not to go ahead with it. There was much pressure by a company already providing another aircraft, under-at the basics, you might think so, but there was more to the story. The communications suite, the ICS suite and the aircraft were put through complete Tempest testing, which meant it had to be hardened. And even though the weapons system may have been off an E-2C, our software was all unique, and we pushed the limits and built all-new chips that were not previously possi- ble. So where was all this used? On the next-generation AWACS, of course.

There is sometimes more to the story than meets the eye. My group did 47 projects, and all were done on time, at or below cost, and all met or exceeded requirements. Of that we are all exceedingly proud.

Bill Danner, Lompoc, California
 
Poor things need to go to Dr. Pimple Popper to get those growths removed.

Hurricane hunter dropsonde chutes could be used for tiny munitions in a pinch. Same with Electras as well I should imagine.
 
Can someone help please? I am looking for the details of the avionics suite of the C-130A-II ELINT version of the late 1950s and the 1960s.

One of such planes, # 56-0528, of the United States Air Force 7406th Support Squadron, was shot down on September 2, 1958, in Armenia by Soviet MiGs, killing all 17 crew members. The bird was on the Sun Valley ELINT mission.
 
Thank you for this long history of the C-130 and all the associated projects

But I have always been amazed by the narrow main gear of the C-130, compared to that of the Transall C-160

Have there ever been plans for a different main gear? wider? more adaptable to rustic landing grounds ? For example for STOL versions ?
 
"Have there ever been plans for a different main gear? wider? more adaptable to rustic landing grounds ? For example for STOL versions ?"
In answer to all 4 of your questions-Yes. Great info for the last 3 questions is in the book "On Atlas' Shoulders" by Chris Gibson-who is a big contributor to this forum. The book has a whole chapter on the C-130. For answers to all 4 questions I refer you to "American Secret Projects 3, US Airlifters Since 1962" by Cox and Kaston, Chapter 9 "The Once and Future Hercules". There is even a drawing of the new, bigger, stronger landing gear.
 
www.buzzsprout.com

Workhorse - RAAF C-130s

"Workhorse" is a podcast about Royal Australian Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft from their earliest history through to modern times. The series is based on the soon to be released book “Air Mobility Workhorse”, which will be available from Big S...
www.buzzsprout.com www.buzzsprout.com
 

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