WASHINGTON — The recapitalization of the Navy Air Reserve’s fleet of C-130 Hercules transport aircraft with modern C-130J Super Hercules aircraft remains the top procurement priority of the Navy Reserve, the Chief of Navy Reserve said, pointing out the challenge of sustaining high mission-capable rates for the existing fleet of C-130s.
The Navy Air Reserve’s C-130T and KC-130T Hercules, “are in every theater around the globe right now and they are the most responsive intra-theater lift capability of any service,” said Vice Adm. John B. Mustin, speaking March 1, 2023, in an online conversation with retired Rear Adm. Frank Thorp IV, president and CEO of the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington in one of the memorial’s SITREP Speaker Series events.
“And that’s a Reserve-only mission,” Mustin said. “There are no active-duty [fleet logistics] C-130s. Mine are on average over three decades old, which means the mission-capable rates are low [and] the pressure on the supply chain is challenging. Lockheed doesn’t make them anymore because they’ve transitioned to C-130J/KC-130J; I’m flying [C-130T] ‘Tangoes.’ Every other service that flies Hercs — active and reserve — has transitioned to Juliets. I’m the only one flying Tangoes.”
Five Navy Air Reserve fleet logistics squadrons operate a total of 16 C-130Ts and 11 KC-130Ts. Five other KC-130Ts are operated by the two Navy test wings to support test and evaluation activities. The KC-130Ts were transferred from the Marine Corps Reserve when its two reserve Marine aerial refueler/transport squadrons upgraded to the KC-130J, a process completed in April 2021.
“We are in the process now — and the CNO [chief of naval operations] has identified this as a priority in his Navigation Plan — to recapitalize the Navy Reserve Herc fleet by 2030. So, I need 32 of these by 2030,” he said. “But they’re not cheap. So, we’re pursuing the first on the Navy’s Unfunded Priority List to kick-start in [fiscal 2024] the procurement of those new airplanes.”
Last June, Mustin testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Defense subcommittee Congress that a fleet of “[m]odern KC-130Js will realize an additional $200 million in annual transportation cost savings.”
