C-130J Super Hercules worldwide fleet soars past 1 million flight hours

The worldwide community of Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] C-130J Super Hercules operators recently surpassed a landmark 1 million flight hours milestone, logging this time through numerous combat, special operations and humanitarian missions.

Thirteen countries operating C-130Js, and members of Lockheed Martin’s Flight Operations and the U.S. Government’s Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) teams contributed to this achievement. Hours were tracked beginning with the C-130J’s first flight on April 5, 1996, through the end of April 2013.
“There are a million reasons to pick the C-130J, as the Hercules continues to demonstrate the ability to fulfill any mission at any time,” said George Shultz, vice president and general manager of C-130 programs at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company. “Not only is this milestone a testament to the capability of the C-130J Super Hercules, it reflects the dedication displayed by crews and maintainers each day they fly a C-130J. Once again, the Super Hercules family continues to prove why the C-130J’s flexibility and versatility remains without equal.”

The C-130J is the standard by which all other airlift is measured in terms of availability, flexibility and reliability. C-130Js currently are deployed in two combat theaters and are operating at a very high tempo efficiently and reliably. In non-combat — but equally harsh environments — C-130Js are often the first to support humanitarian missions  such as search and rescue,  aerial firefighting  in the U.S., and delivering relief supplies after earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons and tsunamis around the world.

Countries with C-130Js contributing to these flight hours include (in order of delivery) the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Canada, India, Qatar, Oman, Iraq, Tunisia and Israel (now in flight test for a summer 2013 delivery). In the U. S., C-130Js are flown by the Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, Air National Guard, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard units. Fifteen countries have chosen the C-130J as an airlifter of choice — including Kuwait and the Republic of Korea, which will join the fleet with C-130J deliveries in 2014.