Lockheed C-130 Hercules variant
Lockheed C-130 Hercules EC-130
The series of electronic warfare, airborne command and control and psychological operations versions of the C-130 Hercules, operated by the United States Air Force and, until the 1990s, by the U.S. Navy. It includes the EC-130E ABCCC battlefield command and control aircraft, retired in 2002; the EC-130E Commando Solo psychological operations aircraft, in service from 1978 and retired in 2006; its successor the EC-130J Commando Solo III, flown exclusively by the 193rd Special Operations Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard; the EC-130H Compass Call communications jamming platform based on the C-130H airframe; and the Navy's EC-130Q TACAMO strategic communications link to the ballistic missile submarine force, replaced by the E-6 Mercury.
History
The EC-130 series comprises several slightly different versions of the C-130 Hercules operated by the United States Air Force and, until the 1990s, by the U.S. Navy, all of them dedicated to airborne command and control, electronic warfare or psychological operations.
The EC-130E ABCCC (Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center), built on a basic C-130E platform, provided tactical airborne command post capabilities to air and ground commanders in low air threat environments. It was operated by the 7th and later the 42nd Airborne Command and Control Squadron. The aircraft were retired in 2002 and the mission migrated to the E-8 JSTARS and E-3 AWACS fleets.
The psychological operations line began as the EC-130E Coronet Solo, which entered service in 1978 with Tactical Air Command reusing the mission electronic equipment of the retired EC-121S Coronet Solo. In 1983 the mission passed to Military Airlift Command and the aircraft was redesignated EC-130E Volant Solo; with the formation of Air Force Special Operations Command the mission transferred to AFSOC and the aircraft became Commando Solo. Operations were consolidated under a single unit, the 193rd Special Operations Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, based at Harrisburg. In the early 1990s the aircraft were upgraded as Commando Solo II, and from 2003 they were replaced by newly built EC-130J Commando Solo III aircraft; the last EC-130E was retired in 2006. The EC-130J broadcasts in the standard AM, FM, HF, TV and military communications bands, flies at the maximum altitudes possible for optimum propagation patterns and is air-refuelable; its modifications include enhanced navigation systems, self-protection equipment and the ability to broadcast colour television in a multitude of worldwide standards. An intermediate variant, the EC-130E Rivet Rider, added VHF and UHF worldwide-format colour TV, a vertical trailing wire antenna and infrared countermeasures.
The EC-130H Compass Call, based on the C-130H airframe, is the airborne communications jamming platform of Air Combat Command's 55th Electronic Combat Group at Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona. It seeks to disrupt enemy command and control communications and limit the coordination essential to enemy force management, employing offensive counterinformation and electronic attack capabilities in support of U.S. and coalition tactical air, surface and special operations forces. It was used extensively in the Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and also in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Inherent Resolve against the Islamic State. In September 2017 the Air Force announced that L3 Technologies would serve as lead systems integrator for a future Compass Call based on the Gulfstream G550 business jet, designated EA-37B by Air Combat Command on 14 November 2023.
The Navy operated the EC-130Q Hercules TACAMO, a land-based naval aviation platform that served as the strategic communications link aircraft for the fleet ballistic missile submarine force and as a backup link for the USAF's manned bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile forces. To ensure survivability it operated as a solo platform, well away from other major naval forces. It was flown by Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadrons VQ-3 and VQ-4 from 1963 until 1993 and was replaced by the Boeing E-6 Mercury. In December 2020 the Navy returned to the C-130 platform by contracting a C-130J-30 as a testbed for the TACAMO mission, and in October 2024 it announced that the new aircraft would be designated E-130J. Completing the series is the EC-130V, an airborne early warning and control version used by the Coast Guard for counter-narcotics missions.
Among its most notable actions, the Commando Solo acted as an airborne radio station during Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada, broadcast continuously throughout the initial phases of Operation Just Cause in 1989, transmitted radio and television messages to Haiti during Operation Uphold Democracy in 1994 — including addresses by President Aristide — and returned to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake to broadcast warnings, information on aid distribution points and hygiene instructions. During Operation Odyssey Dawn an EC-130J warned Libyan shipping in Arabic, French and English not to leave port.