The Arkansas Air National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing has been approved as the preferred location for the C-130J formal training program, according to a media alert sent out Thursday.
Four C-130J Super Hercules aircraft will be stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville after the approval by Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.
"This announcement is huge for the 189th Airlift Wing,” said Maj. Gen. Kendall Penn, Arkansas’ adjutant general. “This allows the wing to divest four of its C-130H cargo aircraft that will be recapitalized into the Air Force’s inventory and will relocate four existing C-130J aircraft from the Air Force’s inventory to Little Rock Air Force Base. This recognition by the Air Force of the quality of Airmen in the Arkansas National Guard should cement the 189th Airlift Wing's future for the foreseeable future.”
The C-130J can carry more cargo farther and faster on less fuel than its older C-130H counterpart, according to the media alert.
The Super Hercules aircraft climb faster and higher, fly farther at a higher cruise speed, and take off and land in a shorter distance, according to the Air Force.
In May 2021, Kendall approved Little Rock Air Force Base as the candidate base.
“As the Air Force continues to recapitalize and modernize the C-130 fleet, the Airmen of the 189th Airlift Wing are excited for the opportunity to continue our well-established partnership with the 314th Airlift Wing in training combat airlifters for the Total Force and our Allied partners,” said Col. Dean Martin, 189th Airlift Wing commander. “We have a strong history of excellence in safely training C-130 aircrews since 1986 in the E model and currently in the H model. We look forward to leveraging our decades of training expertise in the newest generation of this venerable cargo aircraft, the C-130J.”