Coast Guard accepts 18th C-130J long range surveillance aircraft

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Feb. 20, 2025 —

The baseline C-130J that will become CGNR 2018 – the Coast Guard’s 18th Super Hercules long range surveillance aircraft – is readied for departure from Lockhead Martin Aeronautics in Marietta, Georgia, on Jan. 30, 2025. Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin.

The Coast Guard accepted its 18th C-130J Super Hercules long range surveillance (LRS) aircraft from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Marietta, Georgia, on Jan. 30. The aircraft was delivered two months ahead of its scheduled contract delivery date and within cost parameters.

The aircraft was delivered in its baseline configuration, without the specialized equipment needed for Coast Guard missions. A year-long missionization effort that includes the installation of a Minotaur Mission System Suite including an APY-11 multimode radar and completion of the Block Upgrade 8.1 is scheduled to start in March at L3Harris Integrated Mission Systems in Waco, Texas. The aircraft is expected to join the Coast Guard fleet as a fully operational HC-130J, CGNR 2018, in mid-2026.

The service’s fleet of 17 HC-130Js is the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) largest airlift asset. The LRS fleet is employed to execute a variety of Coast Guard missions including search and rescue, drug and alien interdiction, cargo and personnel transport, and maritime stewardship as well as providing critical support to DHS partners. As DHS’s only multi-mission, heavy-lift asset, it is regularly called upon to respond to surge events such as hurricane or typhoon response, enforcement of U.S. fisheries within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zones and heavy-lift cargo missions. Multiple HC-130Js are currently being used to conduct alien expulsion flight operations between California and Texas as the Coast Guard surges resources to enforce immigration laws and secure U.S. borders and maritime approaches.

The Super Hercules is also capable of serving as a command and control or surveillance platform from which crews can detect, identify and classify targets while in flight, as well as share that information with operational forces.

For more information: HC-130J Long Range Surveillance Aircraft Program page

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