USMC C-130J Harvest Hawk

[Flying Pig]

I dont quite get the name "Harvest Hawk" but it looks like the Marines want their own Spectre gunships.  Nice start anyway.  Happy Hunting gents.


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US Marine Corps plans to convert KC-130J tankers into gunships

By Stephen Trimble

The US Marine Corps has decided to convert some Lockheed Martin KC-130J tankers into combination surveillance platforms and gunships.

The renamed KC-130J "Harvest Hawk" would retain the wing-mounted refuelling pods and tanker mission, but add a new targeting sensor and a 30mm cannon, the USMC says.

Marine commanders have issued an urgent request for the Harvest Hawk capability, believing that the KC-130J could be used as more than simply a refuelling system for helicopters and tiltrotors. "If we can get more utility out of the tanker platform - then why not," the service says.

US Naval Air Systems Command is working with several suppliers to implement the Harvest Hawk platform.

The electro-optical targeting sensor is a pending choice between Lockheed's Target Sight System (TSS) already installed on the Bell Helicopter AH-1Z attack helicopter, or the L-3 Wescam MX-15. The TSS has already been selected for installation on some Lockheed AC-130 gunships operated by US Special Operations Command.

The precise number of Harvest Hawk platforms to be prepared and the timeline for deliveries was not immediately available.

When it is deployed, the Harvest Hawk will join a growing mix of manned aircraft being converted into multi-role surveillance and strike platforms. The Defense Intelligence Agency, for example, now operates C-130s called Shadow Harvest, which are equipped with a BAE Systems hyperspectral imaging sensor.

The US Air Force is converting more than 30 Beechcraft C-12 Hurons into a new manned surveillance fleet called MC-12 Libertys.

The US Army started the trend in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2006 by converting some Shorts C-23B Sherpas into surveillance platforms called Constant Hawks.

DATE: 02/04/09
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/09/marine_tanker_092009w/

[PHall]

This will be a "good idea" until the first one gets shot down.

There's a reason the Air Force "Spectres" fly at night, they're a big honking slow moving target in the daylight!

[Gunner C]

They work in two environments:  in a VERY permissive air defense environment and when the bad guys have no reason to think you're coming.

The Marines missed the boat for Special Operations Forces in the early 1980s when the commandant refused to give up any forces to USSOCOM.  Now they've gotten religion and want to do what Special Forces (Green Berets) does.  Now they want to do what the AFSOC does.  They need to let the big boys do that stuff and stick with refueling helos.

[Cecil DP]

The problem with hoping for support from the Air Force is that the services make the decision on where their assets are used. If there is a conflict those Marines may not get support. If nothing else it puts extra gunship support into the theater and relieves the AF from supporting the Marines, and supporting another mission.