![]() ![]() “We’ve got the best force ever, but we keep giving them more to do,” Kuebler said. This might include a fully automated cockpit - an idea the Air Force is experimenting with now and one that might find its way into future C-130s. Across the 55 programs within his portfolio, Kuebler said, he’s prioritizing autonomous technology to ease the increasing burden on flight crews. A number of other potential new capabilities for the C-130, including automation, also were featured during SOFIC, where Kuebler held a “Deep Dive brief” session on fixed-wing advances. adversaries if it helps deliver special operators to far-flung locations. Ken Kuebler, AFSOC’s fixed-wing program executive officer, calls an engineering challenge for an 82-ton plane but one that could create challenges of its own for U.S. “Seaborne operations offer nearly unlimited water landing zones providing significant flexibility for the Joint Force.” Josh Trantham, deputy division chief with AFSOC Science, Systems, Technology and Innovation, said in September AFSOC news report. The adaptation would enable “runway independent” operations, extending the global reach and survivability of the aircraft and of air commandos, Lt. Teams with Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) are working to attach removable floats on a C-130 platform under an amphibious development program dubbed MAC. The military has considered an amphibious plane before, in the 1960s, when Lockheed Martin designed the C-130 Hercules on Water. The idea was repeated a year later at this year’s SOFIC, held at the home of Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida. The C-130 was discussed during the May 2021 Special Operations Forces Industry Conference as a candidate for a program to develop a plane that can take off and land on water. special operations forces are considering new roles for the aircraft first known as the C-130 Hercules, a venerable air truck that made its inaugural flight in 1954 and already is regarded as the military’s Swiss Army knife.
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