The Royal Air Force C-130J fleet notched its 50,000th flight hour last February, an achievement celebrated at the aircraft's home base at RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire, about ninety minutes west of London. The 50K mark fell about a year after the RAF prepared to go to war for the first time in the C-130J during Operation Telic, the British contribution to Operation Iraqi Freedom. At the start of 2003, few would have foreseen that the RAF C-130J crews would approach, let alone break, the 50,000-hour total within a year. But the C-130Js — like their engineers and crews — have been kept extremely busy. Seventy-five percent of the 50K total involved operational flying in Iraq. The C-130J has proved doubters wrong and shown itself to be an extremely capable tactical workhorse.
As they prepared for combat action in early 2003, RAF crews at Lyneham needed the all-important clearance to allow low-level tactical operations while flying with night vision goggles. Before the clearance was given, the aircrews of the Hercules Operational Evaluation Unit as well as 24 and 30 squadrons practiced NVG flying and procedures in state-of-the-art simulators. Simulation gave way to actually flying with NVGs when the clearance finally came through on 14 February 2003.
Eight days later, six RAF C-130J crews were fully trained and ready to take part in low-level night insertion missions in Iraq should they be required. The crews were capable of flying a six-ship formation to a designated drop zone to dispatch paratroopers and drop loads from the ramp of the aircraft. Although a six-ship formation night insertion mission was not needed, many of the crews honed their newfound skills operating behind the Iraqi front lines at night and at low level.
The British crews consisted of experienced operators who had all flown NVG sorties before. However, completing such an involved training regimen in such a short period of time was a tribute to the ease of operation and total integration of the C-130J's glass cockpit and the drive of its pilots, particularly members of the evaluation unit who taught the other crews.
The RAF's C-130Js have been in Iraq ever since. The RAF now has crews and aircraft permanently based in Basra, flying daily resupply and communication flights in and around Iraq. With Hawker Siddeley HS125 transport aircraft of 32 (Royal) Squadron, the C-130J is one of only two fixed-wing RAF assets permanently based in Iraq.
Herculean Feats
The Royal Air Force has operated the Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules since the first C. Mk. 1s (C-130Ks) entered service in April 1967. Heavy workloads and more than thirty years of flying have taken a toll on these original aircraft, however.
To ensure service for the Hercules well into the current millennium, twenty-five next-generation C-130Js were ordered from Lockheed Martin in the early 1990s. The RAF acquired two versions of the C-130J: fifteen of the longer fuselage aircraft, known by the RAF as the C. Mk. 4, and ten of the standard C-130J, known as the C. Mk. 5. The arrival of the first C-130Js meant the return of some early C-130Ks to the manufacturer for refurbishment and redelivery to new customers. The remaining examples retained in RAF service are now used for tactical, special, and some strategic operations.
The introduction of the C-130J has resulted in some major restructuring plans for RAF Lyneham's operational squadrons. The first C-130J unit, 24 Squadron, is responsible for strategic transport and training. The second C-130J unit, 30 Squadron, which became operational in 2002, is now responsible for tactical training.
Initially, 24 Squadron had a number of constraints on the new airplane. Therefore, strategic missions instead of tactical missions became the normal tasking. C-130Js supported British troops in the Persian Gulf with twice-a-week flights staging through Cyprus. However, as tactical workload trials progressed in the United States and at the Boscombe Down test center in England, the C-130J began to spread its tactical wings.
An early RAF C-130J pilot commented: "The C-130J necessitates such a different method of operation over the previous-generation Hercules. Instead of a four-man flight deck, for example, we use a three-man crew. This means that the crew operation is very different. The airplane provides a mass of information, and we need to manage it. Apart from the control column, the cockpit is almost completely different."
Eighty-eight crews have been trained by 24 Squadron so far, in twenty-four courses. The unit is training two crews per course at the moment. At eight courses a year, 24 Squadron is producing sixteen crews annually. The squadron was training four crews per course at its peak (thirty-two crews per year). Ten pilot instructors are dedicated to initial conversion training, and the squadron is steady with twenty-five crews. There are a similar number of crews in 30 Squadron.
"The C-130J has proven to be much more effective than the older C-130K in some areas, particularly areas warranting hot and high operations," says Flt. Lt. Dave Stewart, the current executive officer for 24 Squadron. Operations in Afghanistan during 2002 provide a good example. The high altitude of Kabul and the relatively large amount of fuel required to get to Thumrait restricted the C-130K to a seven-ton payload. The C-130J carried twelve tons. These figures for the C-130J were derived using normal operating standards. The C-130K, on the other hand, had to use military operating standards to justify its smaller payload. In short, the C-130J was flown at lower risk for more capability."
The most noticeable changes to the fleet have come as the RAF has increased its experience and received clearances to match. The whole arena of tactical, NVG, and low-level operations has been constantly developing. To a large extent, the improvements in navigational accuracy and ease of operation in a two-pilot flight deck with a flight management system are now taken for granted by the crews. Everyone comments on the relative quiet on the flight deck at high-workload times, when the K-model flight deck would have been buzzing with a constant drone of information being passed between the navigator and the pilots. The throttles and carefree engine handling are normal for RAF C-130J crews now, and a head-up display is considered a standard and necessary instrument.
Workhorse Goes Tactical
The operational tempo at 24 and 30 squadrons is as busy as ever. With just eight squadron crews trained, the new C-130J wing was able to carry out more than fifty percent of the whole of Lyneham's route tasking, mainly supporting operations in the Persian Gulf. In addition to its strategic transport role, the RAF C-130J is now busy with tactical operations.
Squadron Leader Mark Pearce is officer commanding of the tactical training flight at 30 Squadron. His unit conducts tactical flying and postgraduate training for the C-130J. "We are aiming to train an equal number of crews on the tactical side of flying the C-130J on both 24 and 30 squadrons," he explains.
"I have worked partly with the guys at Boscombe Down (the UK Ministry of Defence's aviation research center) but mainly with the Hercules Operational Evaluation Unit, which is an asset of the Air Warfare Centre based here at Lyneham," Pearce notes. "We've worked hand in hand with them for two years developing tactical procedures. The C-130J has great situational awareness for pilots; it has so much equipment to let crewmembers know exactly what is going on at any one time. For example, we can effectively have one pilot off doing a lot of work on the radios and the other pilot will be flying, knowing exactly where the aircraft is and how the mission is going. We are taking the C-130J into combat theaters, and twelve aircraft in the fleet will soon have the full defensive aids system installed. Many of our operating locations need these defensive systems. We have reviewed a lot of the threats and worked out how we are going to fly against them."
Flt. Lt. Steve Forster is also on the tactical team at 30 Squadron. "I flew nine years on the C-130K," he says. "The C-130J is more of a pilot's airplane; we don't have a navigator so it really concentrates the mind. The tactical flying is outstanding in the C-130J. When we start the mission planning phase, we have a lead crew and a follower, and maybe more with a bigger formation. One of the lead crews will plan the mission and brief it. JAMPA, a PC-based C-130J Advanced Mission Planner, downloads to a ruggedized PC card and the card is then plugged into the aircraft. The loadmaster has picked up a lot of what the navigator and the engineer used to do in the cockpit, certainly in terms of lookout and managing the fuel panel."
"We have never flown with navigators on the C-130J and don't have any in the squadrons," notes Stewart. "When it comes to tactical training, our guys start at a much higher workload to get them used to the demands put on them by changing routings and tactical scenarios. Indeed, the first flight on the tactical course involves airborne re-routes and changes in targets and timings. The computers make such on-the-fly changes much slicker than the old pen on a map. We could have an occasional role for a third person on the flight deck for a mission-specific task. This person would not replace the navigator, but would more likely be used for high-workload missions. The extra crewmember might be a signaler or a mission commander with specialist knowledge of the ground situation."
Future Operations
Wing Commander Kev Groves, 24 Squadron commanding officer, is extremely positive about operations with the C-130J. RAF C-130J crews are operating from rough strips around the world. The aircraft's defensive aids system is being updated to meet theater-specific threats. C-130J crews are putting in a lot of hours to support the frontline forces, and the Hercules continues to be the workhorse of the Royal Air Force.
Jamie Hunter is an aviation photojournalist based in England.
