The last of Canada’s 17 new-build C-130J Super Hercules transports joined the Royal Canadian Air Force ranks in a ceremony at Lockheed Martin’s plant in Marietta, Ga., announced the company. “The aircraft [type] has already proven its worth around the world in places like Afghanistan and Libya, as well as here at home in Canada,” said RCAF Lt. Col. Colin Keiver, 436 Transport Squadron commander, in accepting the new airframe on May 8. “Our partners at Lockheed Martin have delivered us an aircraft that more than lives up to the motto of 436 Squadron. . . . ‘We Carry the Load,'” he added. Canada signed a $1.4 billion contract with Lockheed Martin for the 17 Super Hercules and associated support services in December 2007. The company delivered Canada’s first Super Herk—designated CC-130J in Canadian service—in June 2010. Delivered early, the final Super Herk is scheduled to join 436 (T) Squadron at CFB Trenton, Ontario, by week’s end.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.