U.S. Air Force deploys C-130Js for first time

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Mark Diamond
  • Air Mobility Command Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, ILL. (AFPN) --  The U.S. Air Force's C-130J Hercules -- the newest variant of the versatile C-130 aircraft -- deployed for the first time this month.

The deployed force includes maintainers, operators and support Airmen from Rhode Island Air National Guard’s 143rd Airlift Squadron, Maryland ANG’s 135th AS, Air Force Reserve’s Command’s 815th AS at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., and California ANG’s 115th AS at Channel Islands ANG Station.

Lt. Col. Chris Hair, chief of Air Mobility Command's operations modernization division, said many of these Guard and Reserve Airmen are the same people who have worked so hard for the past two years preparing the J model for operational deployment.

"We've maximized the use of taxpayer dollars to give them the combat capability that they paid for," he said. "The men and women in those units -- those Guard and Reserve warriors -- should be immensely proud of the contributions they've made to get this aircraft ready. Most of the actual work has fallen on their backs as the experts who fly this airplane day in and day out."

The aircraft will fly the same mission earlier-model C-130s are now accomplishing, Colonel Hair said. During the past two years, we've worked very hard to prepare this aircraft for combat operations, and there is no doubt in any of our minds that this aircraft is ready to get out there and do what it was designed to do," he said.

The J-model can climb faster and higher, fly farther at a higher cruise speed and take off and land in shorter distances than other C-130s, Colonel Hair said. That should make the J-model even more effective in a combat environment, he said.

"It's time for the C-130J to take its place alongside other C-130 aircraft -- those heroes of tactical airlift," Colonel Hair said. "The C-130 has always been a versatile aircraft, capable of a variety of missions. The J-model is a continuation of that proud history.” (Courtesy of Air Mobility Command News Service)