Members of staff from Lockheed Martin pose in front of first LM-100J Commercial Freighter which rolled out of the Marietta plant on February 9, 2017. [Lockheed photo]

Employees who designed and built the aircraft celebrated this new Super Hercules with a traditional "rollout" ceremony held at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics facility located here. Team members walked this LM-100J out of the building that is home to the Super Hercules production line. The next stop for this milestone Super Hercules is the flightline, where it will prepare for its first flight this spring.

Lockheed Martin announced its intent to manufacture and market the LM-100J in February 2014. Lockheed Martin has filed for an FAA civil type certificate update and this first LM-100J will participate in flight test activity to support this process.

"Today's rollout not only marks another accomplishment for Super Hercules, but it also reflects the aircraft's capability to evolve to meet customer requirements. The LM-100J program has exceeded all expectations in moving from an idea to a reality," said George Shultz, vice president and general manager, Air Mobility & Maritime Missions at Lockheed Martin. "We are at this point thanks to hard work and dedication of Lockheed Martin employees and suppliers, who have literally designed and built this new chapter of Super Hercules operations. The FAA has been an essential partner in this aircraft's production and we look forward to continuing to work together as we move into the LM-100J's critical flight test phase. "

The LM-100J incorporates technological developments and improvements that result from years of military C-130J operational experience, including more than 1.5 million flight hours achieved by operators in 16 nations. This experience and advancement translates to an aircraft that will deliver reliable service in a multi-role platform for decades to come. The LM-100J is the ninth production version of the Super Hercules aircraft and its commercial capabilities have the distinction of being the 17th different mission capability supported by the C-130J.

Like its multi-tasking military counterpart, the LM-100J will support a variety of tasks, including: oversized cargo transport; oil dispersion/aerial spray; oil and gas exploration; mining logistics operations; aerial fire fighting; aerial delivery; medevac/air ambulance; humanitarian relief operations; personnel transport; austere field operations; and search and rescue.

The LM-100J is the updated version of the L-100 Hercules, which was built by Lockheed Martin from 1964-1992. More than 100 L-100s were delivered to both global commercial and government operators, supporting cargo delivery requirements in almost every operating environment in the world.

Courtesy of Lockheed Martin Corporation

No guns out the side ?

Cee one thirty rollin' down the strip! Big iron bird gonna take a little trip!

I hope they incorporate some of those upgrades in the legacy birds, especially the prop design.

Also, FPNI.

Needs more gunships.

Does it still need to go to paint, or are they after that steampunk look ?

If it keeps them cranking them out and making more spare parts for the 130,  good for Lockhead.

It's the newest camo. Blends in perfectly in a cardboard box factory.

Interesting..

I thought that was the new DetroitCam.

Cousin works there as a supervisor on the C130 line, good stuff.

Now if they could crank up the F22 line again we'd be in business (all F22's were built here) I used to love sitting at work in the car at lunch time and watch the F22's test flying.

It will go to the flightline for final checks, then it will fly flight checks until it's given the thumbs up and then it goes to get painted.
That way the paint job won't get fucked up if there are issues.

The original C-130A's were not 100% covered by a paint system.

I knew sequestration was bad, but I didn't know they couldn't even afford to paint the planes any more!

 Chuck Norris must have had a cousin on the original design team.  

I'm suspect the details are classified, but is there any speculation on what was upgraded, and the effect it has on capabilities?

I just re-watched the "Mighty Planes" on the Smithsonian channel on the "SkiBird" C-130s that operate out of upstate NY, and fly to the north and south poles to support the scientists etc. Freaking awesome airplane.

Why would the details be classified on a COMMERCIAL airliner?  
Read the Lockheed release in the OP...

Sigh, I am ashamed of myself. I just skimmed it while talking to the wife, and figured it was .mil.

I'll say 50 hail marries, and reload some rounds as penance.

Kinda surprising. I wasn't tracking they were going to do a L-100 version of the J mod from everything I had read.

MGs/cannons are on the other side of the aircraft, no? Why the hell are they taking pics from the other angle then?

read the press release, also this airframe is fully available to the civilian market as well. as is there's nothing classified on it.

Does it still have the back door?



In case you was to take some commies site seeing?

NICE!

Need to strap an A10 on the front.

I think my brother who was a Medic in the 82nd, told me about jumping out of them when they came out...  Prior aircraft ---what was that...

It's made of cardboard 

At least it's eco friendly.

Why not put the new wings on it?

It's amazing the Herc entered service 9 years after the close of WW2.

Even more amazing is the continual production line.

My son in law worked on it

Of the original 100 something L100's built many were sold to foreign militaries.  Of those still in service half are military.

Price for a mil. J model is in the 60 to 120 million range.  The last couple legacy L100's sold for less than 10 million.  Used, of course.

The Herc is an expensive machine to operate with limited application.  In some cases a 747 is cheaper to charter.

Good luck to Lockheed.  I expect they plan to sell the L100J to foreign militaries again. They will have an uphill battle to sell any in the civil market.

They have orders and commitments for 25 already.

From one company, the UNs mercenary Air Force.

OSINT shows at least two companies.

in the 82nd we have been talking about these since 1997 I wonder what color static line that bird will be assigned

No paratroop doors, so nobody is jumping from them unless it's a ramp jump.  

ETA: might be wrong about that, the older LM-100s don't have them.

They are still on the LM-100J but are disabled.

Thanks...

Nice. Just did my first live fire from a J-model. Amazing mix of old school airframe and modern upgrades.

The CEO of lynden air cargo and the former CEO of Lockheed are buddies. Now lynden can buy 5-6 planes to replace their L100s.

People were pretty cynical of the program when it was floated when I was still on the team, but hey, 5 more planes means the line stays open a bit longer

The J program started life as a commercial program with certification from the FAA. Before the effort to recertify the entire aircraft kicked off, there were bits that maintained their FAA cert, namely the center and outer wing. The real challenge was running every change by the required FAA DER that was made to the design since the company made the decision to not keep up with the certification. My guess is it is a pretty bone stock 44J (the model we sell to the USAF)

I dig using giant machete's as propellers.

The old canoe paddles were a hell of a lot tougher.  The shitty fragile dowty props are the worst feature of the J.  Can't change individual blades like on any other modern prop, either.

Lockheed says they tested them and they were useless.  AFSOC is giving it a go, they always have money to piss away...

Could have been a C-123 or C-119.

Actually, in between the C47 and C130, the C119 "flying boxcar" was a mainstay for Paratroopers.

Some of them do.

Typical government bureaucracy, Design windows for something and then somebody comes along and boards them up.  How are they supposed to even fly with no windows?

I'll have to show that to my father..............he worked at Lockheed in the golden age of C-130s, 141s and the C-5A as a flightline E&E installer

What's old is new.