Lockheed MC-130
Special mission military aircraft
Why this is trending
Interest in “Lockheed MC-130” spiked on Wikipedia on 2026-07-21.
Categorised under History, this article fits a familiar pattern. History articles often trend on anniversaries of notable events, when historical parallels are drawn in the news, or following popular media portrayals.
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Key Takeaways
- The Lockheed MC-130 is the basic designation for a family of special-mission aircraft operated by the United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), a wing of the Air Education and Training Command, and an AFSOC-gained wing of the Air Force Reserve Command.
- The first of the variants, the MC-130E, was developed to support clandestine special operations missions during the Vietnam War.
- An update, the MC-130H Combat Talon II, was developed in the 1980s from the C-130H and went into service in the 1990s.
- The Combat Shadows were built during the Vietnam War for search and rescue operations and repurposed in the 1980s as AFSOC air-refueling tankers; the last of the 24 retired in 2015.
- The MC-130J, which became operational in 2011, is the new-production variant that is replacing the other special operations MC-130s.
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Source summary
WikipediaThe Lockheed MC-130 is the basic designation for a family of special-mission aircraft operated by the United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), a wing of the Air Education and Training Command, and an AFSOC-gained wing of the Air Force Reserve Command. Based on the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport, the MC-130s' missions are the infiltration, exfiltration, and resupply of special operations forces, and the air refueling of (primarily) special operations helicopter and tilt-rotor aircraft.
The first of the variants, the MC-130E, was developed to support clandestine special operations missions during the Vietnam War. Eighteen were created by modifying C-130E transports, and four were lost through attrition, but the remainder served more than four decades after their initial modification. An update, the MC-130H Combat Talon II, was developed in the 1980s from the C-130H and went into service in the 1990s. Four of the original 24 H-series aircraft have been lost in operations.
The Combat Shadows were built during the Vietnam War for search and rescue operations and repurposed in the 1980s as AFSOC air-refueling tankers; the last of the 24 retired in 2015.
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