Tag Archives: kc-130

Marine Killed in Crash Remembered as Servant, Warrior

US Marine Sgt Joseph Murray was one of 16 killed in last week’s crash of a KC-130T in Mississippi.  From the local news:

“Everyone knew him as a family man. He would do anything for me and our kids. He loved to play his guitar and ukulele for us. What he wanted most in the world besides our happiness was to destroy evil on this earth…”

As a Christian, Murray lived to serve others, whether it was in the Marines, at church or simply providing a better life for his family.

“Joseph joined the military to serve, Read more

AKC-130 Deployed to Afghanistan

The US Marine Corps’ newest attack aircraft, its armed KC-130J tanker/airlift aircraft, is reportedly flying sorties over Afghanistan:

The [KC-130] is the first of three airplanes with San Diego-based Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 352 to be fitted with the Harvest Hawk kit. The kit, designed as a roll-on/roll-off weapon system, includes a pod attached to the left wing that can carry four Hellfire missiles, Read more

The Next Fighter Aircraft: The FC-130

The US Marines are putting Hellfire surface-attack missiles on one of their less traditional airframes:

A KC-130 aerial refueling tanker/transport.

In fact, it’s a fascinating (if not completely new) idea.  Over the years ideas have been floated from putting hundreds of air-to-air missiles on the B-52 to turning C-5 and C-17 cargo aircraft into bombers.  (The payload of a B-2 is reportedly 40,000lbs.  The C-5: 250,000lbs.)  What were once innovative flights of fancy by aircraft designers and Air Force operators are now standard fare (ie, the addition of Hellfire missiles to the Predator UAV).

Still, a little caution is warranted.  Necessity is often the mother of invention (reference the early AC-119 Gunships in Vietnam).  However, boredom and “mission-envy” sometimes play a role as well.