12 Facts About C-130J Hercules

Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft.

The C-130J is a comprehensive update of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, with new engines, flight deck, and other systems.

The promised deliveries of the C-130J allowed the British Ministry of Defence to meet the 1996 deadline for replacing half of the RAF's aging fleet of Hercules aircraft, while the FLA aircraft was not expected to be available at the time until 2003.

Deficiencies with the C-130J Hercules that were cited to support the decision included being unable to drop heavy equipment, the inability to perform combat search-and-rescue missions, cold-weather performance issues, the risk of paratroopers hitting the fuselage when jumping out of the aircraft, major cost increases, and inadequate radar to fly into hurricanes.

Super C-130J Hercules has been used extensively by the USAF and USMC in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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In January 2013, it was reported that some of Canada's CC-130J Hercules transports had counterfeit Chinese microchips in their cockpit displays that were made by an American Lockheed contractor L3 Communications.

The U S investigation reported that the problems on the Hercules first came to light in 2010 when the instrument panel failed on a U S Air Force aircraft during active duty.

Current operators of the C-130J Hercules are the USAF, United States Marine Corps United States Coast Guard, Royal Air Force, Indian Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Danish Air Force, Royal Norwegian Air Force, Israeli Air Force, and the Italian Air Force.

An option for a second C-130J Hercules-30 was exercised on 8 April 2011, along with planning and advance long lead procurement of aircraft components to support the third C-130J Hercules Israeli aircraft.

The first Israeli C-130J Hercules was delivered on 26 June 2013 and was modified with Israeli-unique systems in the United States prior to its arrival in Israel on 9 April 2014.

In July 2013, the C-130J Hercules became part of a competition in the Peruvian Air Force for a medium transport aircraft.

In January 2017, German defence minister announced the intention to purchase 3 C-130J and 3 KC-130J Hercules to acquire tactical airlift capabilities due to the delayed deliveries of the Airbus A400M.