LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell and Governor Andy Beshear welcomed a new generation of Hercules aircraft to the Kentucky Air National Guard Base.
On Saturday, Nov. 6, two new C-130J Super Hercules transports conducted a fly over at the base in Louisville before taxiing onto the ramp under a spray of water cannons.
The new transports are equipped with modern instruments, more efficient engines and a stretched fuselage for additional payload capacity.
They can support a broad range of missions from special operations to air cargo that allow the aircraft to land on difficult runways that other airlifters can't go.
Kentucky Air Guard is expected to receive a total of eight of these state-of-the-art planes, with the 123rd Airlift Wing expecting another three J-models next year.
These newer model aircraft will replace the eight aging C-130 Hercules H-model aircraft built in 1992.
The last H-model departed on Sept. 24 to make way for the newer planes.
Delivery of the final J-model aircraft is slated for September 2022.
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