Lockheed Martin recently delivered a pair of MC-130J Commando II special mission aircraft from its Marietta, Ga., production facility to RAF Mildenhall, England, the company announced. Mildenhall’s 352nd Special Operations Group is slated to receive a total of 12 new-build MC-130Js to replace the unit’s legacy MC-130P/H fleet, which flew its final sortie back in January. “Air Force Special Operations Command has received 24 MC-130Js” as part of its overall fleet recapitalization efforts and “another two scheduled for delivery by the end of the year,” company spokeswoman Stephanie Sonnenfeld-Stinn told Air Force Magazine on Dec. 10. AFSOC currently plans to buy a total of 85 MC-130J special operations aircraft and convert 16 of those airframes into AC-130J Ghostrider gunships. In addition to the MC-130Js, the 352nd SOG also is taking delivery of 10 tilt-rotor CV-22 Ospreys, which the aircraft will support with tactical aerial refueling on covert infiltration and special operations resupply missions.
U.S. munitions have been expended at a high rate during Operation Epic Fury against Iran, prompting concerns that the Pentagon is eating into weapons stockpiles it needs to deter threats around the world. Yet the newly released $1.5 trillion defense budget request was developed before the war against Iran and…