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US Coast Guard receives 14th C-130J Super Hercules

C-130J Super Hercules
CGNR 2014 will next be outfitted with Minotaur software as well as Coast Guard-specific integrated radar, sensors and communication systems. Photo: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.

The US Coast Guard has taken delivery of its 14th C-130J Super Hercules long range surveillance aircraft from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics’ Marietta, Georgia, facility.

The aircraft was delivered on April 27 in its baseline configuration and will be used for component certification testing before it is inducted into the Minotaur mission system suite modification program at L3Harris ISR Systems in Waco, Texas, on May 15.

The program will outfit CGNR 2014 with Minotaur software and Coast Guard-specific integrated radar, sensors and communication systems in a process called missionization, after which the aircraft will be redesignated as an HC-130J.

A Block 8.1 upgrade adding advanced capabilities including enhanced inter-communication systems, enhanced approach and landing systems, expanded diagnostics, civil GPS and additional covert lighting will also be completed.

The Coast Guard currently has 17 HC-130J aircraft in either operational use or active production. In addition to continued Minotaur missionization efforts on new aircraft, the service has plans to complete the block upgrade on all its HC-130J aircraft.

The aircraft’s mission system includes automatic identification and direction-finding capabilities; long range, multi-mode radar; electro-optical and infraread, or EO/IR, sensor turret that provides both imagery and target data; advanced open architecture mission system processor; and an extensive communications suite. The HC-130J features a 20 percent increase in speed and altitude and a 40 percent increase in range compared to the HC-130H model.

The service’s fleet of HC-130Js is the Department of Homeland Security’s largest airlift asset and carries out many Coast Guard missions, including search and rescue, drug and migrant interdiction, cargo and personnel transport, and maritime stewardship. The aircraft is capable of serving as an on-scene command and control platform or as a surveillance platform with the means to detect, classify and identify objects and share that information with operational forces.