old bottle of new wine, old tree new flower
At the end of September, the US Air Force grounded most of the C-130H "Hercules" transport aircraft because it was found that there were significant problems with the propeller during the maintenance and maintenance of the aircraft.
According to the notice from the US Air Force Air Mobility Command (AMC), when the C-130H "Hercules" conducted an engine test run after the maintenance and maintenance was completed, the maintenance personnel found that the aircraft engine leaked oil during the test run. The final problem was located on the cracks at the hub at the root of its propeller.
This propeller crack is not an isolated case, and the same problem was found in the inspection of the other two propellers. This caused 116 C-130H transport aircraft to be grounded and inspected.
"Hercules" old problem
paddle hub component, simply put, is the bearing seat that installs the blade. After the engine's power passes through the reducer assembly, it is transmitted to drive the propeller to rotate, and its effect is quite good. The US Air Force attaches great importance to this and immediately conducts on-site visual inspections, removes them and then performs stress analysis (from this, it can be inferred that cracks are basically caused by mechanical fatigue).
This is the second time that the C-130H fleet has been widely grounded due to propeller problems in more than three years. Previously in February 2019, the US Air Force grounded 60 C-130Hs, which accounted for nearly one-third of the fleet at that time, for several weeks, and replaced the blades due to concerns about the possible rupture of the propeller blades produced before 1971.
According to the description of "propeller barrel" in the news report, the crack may be in the outer cylinder part of the hub assembly. The above picture shows its state after it is removed.
A spokesperson for the US Air Force Air Mobile Command responded to the grounding of C-130H, saying that even though most of the C-130H fleets have been grounded, the US Air Force still has enough air transport capabilities to meet its transportation needs around the world.
Specifically, the "old problem" of C-130H in these two accidents is the "old" 4-blade propeller it uses, namely the 54H60-39 propeller from Hamilton Standard.
. In recent years, the "new" C-130H of Collins Aerospace (a subsidiary of Raytheon Technology) NP2000 8-blade composite propeller, and the C-130J using the Dotti R391 six-blade scimitar-shaped composite propeller have no problems.
Therefore, news reports have emphasized that the grounded C-130 is equipped with older propellers, which includes both 100 C-130Hs and special models based on it as a platform: 8 MC-130H "Combat Claws", 7 EC-130H "Compass Callers" and the only TC-130H.
has been replaced with the "new" C-130H of Collins NP2000 8-leaf composite propeller.
The new generation has been launched with more than 500
Compared with the previous grounding of multiple aircraft of the US military, it is not surprising that the C-130H has an "old problem" this time, because it came from the 1960s.
In recent years, while the US military is starting to modernize and upgrade the C-130H, it is also accelerating the transition from the old and new generations of the "Hercules" family - the transition from the H-type to the new generation of J-type "super Hercules".
In mid-March this year, the 500th C-130J was taken off the line from the Marietta factory in Loma to the US Air Force. Today, C-130J "Super Hercules" has entered service in the US Air Force 273 aircraft, US Marine and 65 aircraft in the Navy, and US Coast Guard 15 aircraft. The 500th "Super Hercules" (extended C-130J-30) that was launched by
was numbered 5934 and was delivered to the McLaughlin Air National Guard in Charleston, West Virginia.
Now, the new generation of "Super Hercules" is becoming a common platform for the US Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard .
. Its birth initially began with the demand raised by RAF "come to the door". British aviation manufacturing companies such as Rolls, Dotty, and Lucas have also participated widely and become suppliers of the Lockheed Martin project.
Of course, in the early 1990s when the concept of "super Hercules" was born, Lockheed Martin also needed such a new generation of "hercules" to take over. After all, the Hercules transport aircraft family at this time had already been in service for a very long period of time, with a flight time of nearly 20 million hours.
2015, the 2500th C-130 was delivered.
With the takeover of "Super Hercules", most of the C-130H have been transferred to the US Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard . Therefore, they were most affected by this grounding.
According to data from Lockheed Martin as of 2020, the C-130J "Super Hercules" that began to be delivered in 1999 has equipped 26 operating units in 22 countries. The global C-130J fleet has flight time exceeds 2 million hours, setting more than 50 world records, and derived 17 sub-models with the same mission configuration, covering transportation, in-flight refueling, search and rescue, meteorological reconnaissance and firefighting.
Currently in service, 26% of the 481 "Super Hercules" are equipped and used by international customers.
Indian Air Force and Israeli Air Force's C-130J "Super Hercules".
From "Ugly Duckling" to classic transport aircraft
It's like this, from "Hercules" to "Super Hercules", the C-130 family has become the longest continuous military aircraft in the world for more than 60 years. However, in the 1950s, no one would have expected this medium-sized transportation opportunity to have such a "broad prospect".
C-130, as a new star, was not favored at that time. The unified view of the industry is: How could Lockheed , a , which produces a number of gorgeous models such as P-38 "Lightning", C-121 "Zodiac", P-80 "Meteor" and U-2 "Lady Jiaolong", how could a Lockheed company design such a "ugly duckling" aircraft that is like a wooden barrel and fly slowly? Even the "soul character" of Lockheed Mart skunk factory doesn't like it.
[Insert: Early reading, such a new "delivery room" of black aviation technology, spending huge amounts of money to build Luo Ma! 】
On August 23, 1954, the prototype YC-130 (No. 53-3397) took off from the Lockheed Airways station in Burbank, California, USA. Later, the manufacturing work of the production-type "Hercules" was transferred from Burbank to the Lockheed Marietta factory. The 3-blade paddle and head radome on the
prototype are significantly different from the later "Hercules".
In the fall of 1954, Lockheed held a naming solicitation competition for this new aircraft. Among the nearly 10,000 proposed names, the most popular one is "Griffin" (that is, " Gripen ", a monster with eagle head and sphinx body with wings, and the nickname of JAS39 aircraft of Sweden Saab is this). But in the end, Lockheed's management identified its name as "Hercules" in the Greek mythology with a high vote of 160 votes.
Although "Hercules" was developed for the needs of the US Air Force on the Korean battlefield in the 1950s, it missed that war. Its fate belongs to the lushness of in the Indochina Peninsula - the "Hercules" family proved themselves through high-intensity and high-intensity tasks on the Vietnam battlefield, and also gave birth to "Hercules"'s armed gunboat aircraft AC-130.
In the continuous upgrade of "new wine in old bottles" for more than 60 years, the suffix number of C-130 has gone from A to J.
is reflected in the aircraft's appearance changes, including propellers from the 3-blade Curtis-Wright propeller in the prototype stage, to the final set Hamilton standard 4-blade paddle, to the Dowty 6-blade paddle on the C-130J and the Collins 8-blade paddle in the C-130H upgrade; in the appearance of the nose radome, from the "hook nose" on the early A-type to the "Pinocchio nose".
In addition, the "Super Hercules" extended C-130J-30 was inserted into two sections of the fuselage, which lengthened the entire length by 15 feet (4.57 meters).
"Super Hercules" normal type and extended C-130J-30 size comparison.
French Air Force equipped C-130J "Super Hercules".
At the same time, apart from its familiar appearance, the C-130 family is already a completely different aircraft. The internal changes of
are concentratedly reflected in the cockpit. There are very few designs left in the 1950s. Under the concept of "glass cockpit", there are LCD screens of large and small sizes. The C-130 was "invited" to the traditional instrument panels, and the flight engineers and navigators in the former crew - now the C-130 crew has been directly reduced to 2 pilots and 1 loading and unloading length.
In terms of power, from Allison T56 to the more powerful Allison AE2100 engine, the range of the C-130J "Super Hercules" has increased by 50% compared to the original A-type, and the maximum take-off weight has increased by 25%. In addition, the maximum flight speed has been improved and the take-off distance has been shortened. The
C-130 transport aircraft is currently the military aircraft with the longest continuous production time in the world.
An American story of a Vietnamese and "Hercules"
In the history of "Hercules", there is also a very American story. This story has been repeatedly told by the Smithsonian Association, the US Air Force and other institutions in Hercules' 60th anniversary report articles and other materials.
On April 29, 1975, 24-year-old Tinh Nguyen (Nguyen) squeezed into the last take-off C-130A transport aircraft. He then settled in a resettlement camp at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, where he worked during the day and studied hard at night, and then was admitted to the University of Alabama.
After graduating from college, he applied to work at Lockheed, and after being rejected, he switched to Gulfstream Aerospace. In 1983, he sent a resume to Lockheed again. This time, Ruan finally got her wish and obtained a job at the Marietta factory.
Tinh Nguyen and C-130J took a photo. The AN/ALE-40 foil interference bomb launch device in the SATIN device is arranged on the side paratrooper door of the C-130.
Ruan, who entered Lockheed's first job was to participate in the development of the prototype of the transport aircraft defense system, which was the later transport aircraft survivability enhancement device (SATIN). As for the purpose of SATIN and its role, he naturally understood it after experiencing the Vietnam war and seeing too many fighter jets being shot down. The final solution given by Ruan is: the combination of
AN/ALR-69 radar alarm receiver, AN/ALQ-156 missile alarm receiver radar and AN/ALE-40 foil interference bomb launch device.
Later, this system was successfully transplanted to the C-5 "Galaxy" strategic transport aircraft according to the needs of the US Air Force.
When exaggerating the "wonderful fate" between Nguyen and Hercules, the American media also specifically emphasized that his birthday was August 23, and the first prototype of the YC-130 in 1954 was also the same day.
is grounded, is the US Air Force going to "cry poor" again?
Although the legend of Nguyen and Hercules is gradually drifting away from each other, similar to Nguyen that when the US military withdrew from Kabul in 2021, a large number of local people still squeezed into the US military's transport planes. However, will the United States wait for the Afghan who can contribute wisdom to the US military industry in a few years?
However, it is certain that after the US military grounded the C-130H this time, whether it was the US Pentagon or the members of the two houses, there was another example on hand that could prove that the military expenditure was not enough and the pressure of renewing the US Air Force equipment was very stressful. As the military complex , companies such as Lockheed Mart and Thor Technology are happy to see it:
Whether it is expanding the procurement of C-130J "Super Hercules" or accelerating the replacement of NP2000 propellers, it means a safe win for them.
As for the protagonist of this early reading of this issue, the story of the C-130 transport aircraft should be continued until the second half of this century.
