Summary
- Super Hercules surpasses 3M flight hours worldwide, reflecting its global reach and proven performance capabilities.
- The Hercule transport family is the longest continuously produced military aircraft.
- The versatile Super Hercules is used by 21 nations for various missions, from combat to aerial refueling.
According to an announcement by Lockheed Martin at the Farnborough International Airshow in England, the C-130J Super Hercules fleet has now surpassed 3 million flight hours. The Super Hercules is a medium-sized tactical airlifter that has proved very popular with US allies around the world. Its excellent engineering makes it the workhorse of choice in many air forces around the world. Separately, Lockheed Martin announced it has just hit another milestone by delivering the 1,000th F-35 fighter jet.
Super Hercules surpasses 3 million flight hours
The Super Hercules figure for 3 million flight hours applies to the worldwide fleet, and the milestone has only ‘recently’ been surpassed. Lockheed Martin stated, “This achievement reflects the C-130J’s unmatched global reach, multi-mission versatility, and proven tactical performance capabilities.”
“In celebrating this achievement, we also honor the many crew members, maintainers and airlift partners who truly keep the global Super Hercules fleet ready for any and every mission requirement.” Rod McLean from Lockheed Martin’s Air Mobility & Maritime Missions
The first C-130J Super Hercules started logging flight hours with its first flight on April 5, 1996. The United Kingdom was the first country Lockheed Martin delivered Super Hercules to, although the US DoD is by far the largest operator. In the US, operators include the Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Pallas Aviation. Pallas Aviation operates two LM-100 J derivatives of the Super Hercules as a civil multi-purpose air freighter capable of rapid and efficient transport of non-standard payloads to various geographic locations.
The flight hours were contributed by 21 nations’ militaries, the civilian company Pallas Aviation, and the Lockheed Martin Flight Operations team. The Super Hercules variants included in the tally include weather reconnaissance variants, tactical airlifter variants, and the AC-130J gunship variant.
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Super Hercules: The Improvements That Took The Lockheed Martin C-130J To The Next Level
Twenty-two nations use the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules.
Super Hercules, successor to the Hercules
The Super Hercules’ predecessor, the C-130 Hercules, first flew in 1954 and came into service in 1956. When including its successor variant, the Super Hercules, it is the longest continuously produced military aircraft (over 60 years). The production line for the Super Hercules is Lockheed Martin’s Aeronautics site in Marietta, Georgia.
Boeing has delivered 545+ Super Hercules worldwide so far, and 21 nations operate them. The number of countries to operate the Super Hercules as some air forces (such as the Royal New Zealand Air Force) have placed orders for them to replace their aging fleets of Hercules aircraft.
Photo: Lockheed Martin
The Super Hercules is a very versatile platform that has some 18 different mission requirements – these include combat, transport, aerial refueling, medevac, search and research, Special Operations, fighter fighting, and more.
They can be found operating from the world’s highest landing strips, the remote wilderness of Antarctica, conflict zones, and everything in between. They routinely operate from all seven continents as well as countless islands around the world.