C-130 Hercules
| C-130 Hercules | ||
|---|---|---|
 The United States Air Force C-130 Hercules | ||
| Description | ||
| Role | Multirole airlift transport, + many special variants | |
| Crew | Varies, 3-5 | |
| Dimensions | ||
| Length | 97.75 ft | 29.79 m |
| Wingspan | 132.58 ft | 40.41 m |
| Height | 38.83 ft | 11.9 m |
| Wing area | 1,745 ft² | 162.12 m² |
| Weights | ||
| Empty | 72,892 lb (H variant) | 33,063 kg |
| Loaded | 155,000 lb (H) | 70,310 kg |
| Maximum take-off | 175,000 lb | 79,380 kg |
| Powerplant | ||
| Engines | Four Allison T56 turboprops | |
| Power | 4,910 ehp (H) | 3,600 kW |
| Performance | ||
| Maximum speed | 386 mph | 621 km/h |
| Combat range | 2,487 mi | 4,002 km |
| Ferry range | 4,606 mi | 7,412 km |
| Service ceiling | 23,000 ft | 7,010 m |
| Rate of climb | 1,900 ft/min (H) | 579 m/min |
| Armament | ||
| Guns | Normally none, but variants often contain weapons | |
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules, a four-engine turboprop aircraft, is the workhorse of the United States military forces. Capable of landing and taking off from short, rough dirt runways, it is a people and cargo hauler and is used in a wide variety of other roles, such as gunships, weather watchers, tankers, firefighters and aerial ambulances. There are more than 40 versions of the Hercules, and it is widely used by more than 50 nations.
The KC-130 tanker is equipped with a removable 13,626 L (3600 gallon) stainless steel fuel tank that is carried inside the cargo compartment providing additional fuel when required. The two wing-mounted hose and drogue aerial refueling pods each transfer up to 1,135 L (300 gallons) per minute to two aircraft simultaneously allowing for rapid cycle times of multiple-receiver aircraft formations (a typical tanker formation of four aircraft in less than 30 minutes).
Deliveries of the C-130A to the U.S. military began in December 1956 and the first B models came on board in April 1959. The B model is known as the sportscar of the fleet because it had no wing tanks and had fully boosted ailerons with 3,000 versus 2,050 lb/in² (21 versus 14 MPa) on other models. This allowed the B model to have a higher roll rate. The newest is the J model, but the H model also remains in production.
Variants of the C-130 include:
- AC-130 gunship
- DC-130 and GC-130 drone control
- EC-130 Commando Solo command and control, and electronic warfare
- HC-130P/N special operations refueling, long-range surveillance, search and rescue
- JC-130 and NC-130 space and missile operations
- KC-130 tactical refueling tanker
- LC-130 Arctic & Antarctic support
- MC-130E/H Combat Talon I/II (special operations)
- PC-130 maritime patrol
- RC-130 reconnaissance
- SC-130 search and rescue
- VC-130 VIP transport
- WC-130 weather reconnaissance
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Units Using the Hercules
United States Air Force
United States Marine Corps
United States Coast Guard
Royal Air Force
South African Air Force
Royal New Zealand Air Force
| Modern USAF Series | Miscellaneous | |
| C-5 Galaxy | Attack--OA-10 Thunderbolt II>OA/A-10,AC-130H/U | RC-135V/W |
| C-17 Globemaster III | Bomber--B-52 Stratofortress>B-52,B-2 Spirit | |
| OC-135B | ||
| C-20 Gulfstream III | Fighter--F-15 Eagle>F-15/E,F-16 | KC-10,KC-135 Stratotanker |
| C-21 Learjet | Electronic--E-3 Sentry>E-3,E-4B | |
| HC-130P/HC-130N>N | ||
| C-32 C-22B | Transport--C-5,C-17 Globemaster III | |
| MC-130E/MC-130H>H/P | ||
| C-130 Hercules | C-22B, Boeing C-32 | |
| MH-53J/M | ||
| C-141B Starlifter | Trainers--T-1 Jayhawk>T-1, T-37 Tweet | |
| HH-60G | ||
| C-37A Gulfstream V | Weather--WC-130 Hercules>WC-130, WC-135 | |
| UH-1N | ||
| C-40B/C Clipper | UAV--RQ-1 Predator>RQ-1/MQ-1 UAV, Global Hawk | U-2S/TU-2S |
| VC-25 | ||
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