Lockheed Martin last month delivered the Air Force’s seventh HC-130J combat rescue airplane and 15th MC-130J special-mission aircraft, announced company officials. The HC-130J, aircraft number 5716, arrived at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., on Feb. 28 from the company’s manufacturing facility in Marietta, Ga., states a company release. The MC-130J, aircraft number 5714, touched down six days before that at Cannon AFB, N.M., according to a second company release. The Air Force has plans to procure 37 HC-130Js for Air Combat Command—15 of which are already on order—to replace the legacy HC-130N/P fleet. At the same time, the service intends to acquire 85 MC-130Js for Air Force Special Operations Command. Lockheed Martin is already under contract for 27 of those MC-130Js. Sixteen of the 85 MC-130Js will undergo post-production conversion to the new AC-130J gunship standard. (See also Keep ’em Coming and Commando II Times Fourteen.)
An Air Force F-16 pilot designed a collapsible ladder that weighs just six pounds and folds into the unused cockpit map case.