USMC Reserve Squadron Receives Lockheed-Built Super Hercules Tanker Variant

Lockheed Martin has handed the Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 452's first KC-130J tanker aircraft, one of the company's nine Super Hercules production models.

U.S. Marines brought the aerial refueling vehicle from a Lockheed facility in Marietta, Ga., to Stewart Air National Guard Base in New York, the company said Friday.

VMGR-452, nicknamed the Yankees, has used Hercules planes over the past three decades to support international missions such as Operations Enduring Freedom, Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom.

The KC-130J variant features an integrated defensive system, automated maintenance fault reporting tools, a high-altitude ramp, door hydraulics, a dual heads-up display, digital avionics components and payload technologies.

Rod McLean, vice president and general manager of Lockheed’s air mobility and maritime missions line of business, said the KC-130 Hercules platform has supported Marines' aviation operations since 1960.