The Air Force’s sixth new-build HC-130J personnel recovery airplane left Lockheed Martin’s production facility in Marietta, Ga., on Thursday, bound for Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., announced the company. Maj. Gen. Timothy Zadalis, Air Education and Training Command’s director of intelligence, operations, and nuclear integration, flew aircraft number 5709 to Davis-Monthan, states the company’s Dec. 6 release. The Air Force has plans to acquire 37 of these specially configured platforms, dubbed Combat King IIs, to replace its legacy HC-130N/P fleet. To date, 15 HC-130Js are on order. The previously completed one departed Marietta for Davis-Monthan on Nov. 29.
The Senate Armed Services Committee this week released the full text of its version of the 2026 defense policy bill—often referred to as the National Defense Authorization Act—that would allow the Air Force and Space Force to spend billions of dollars more than the services had sought for next year.