US Air Force moves closer to ski-equipped C-130J Hercules

The US Air Force has awarded Sierra Nevada Corporation $31,789,335 to design and develop a kit that would convert a production C-130J into a ski-equipped LC-130J, according to a contract notice published on September 2, 2026.

The notice describes the work as non-recurring engineering covering the design, development and analysis of a post-production modification kit.

Work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with completion expected by March 27, 2028.

Sierra Nevada Corporation is also the prime contractor for the Survivable Airborne Operations Center, the Boeing 747-8-based replacement for the E-4B Nightwatch fleet.

Ski-equipped Hercules fleet supports Antarctic research

The LC-130 is flown by a single unit, the New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing at Stratton Air National Guard Base in Scotia, New York. The National Guard Bureau describes the LC-130H as the largest aircraft in the world capable of landing on snow and ice using skis.

The wing concluded its 38th Operation Deep Freeze season on March 11, 2026, having kept three LC-130H aircraft at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, with a fourth staged in Christchurch, New Zealand.

It flew 63 missions to Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station and 17 to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide, carrying 1,086 passengers and transporting 2.6 million pounds (1,179 tonnes) of cargo and one million pounds (454 tonnes) of fuel.

The fleet supports National Science Foundation research, with partner air forces occasionally providing assistance. On August 6, 2025, for example, a Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130J conducted a winter medical evacuation from McMurdo Station.

Lawmakers fund transition to the LC-130J

Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand said on February 4, 2026, that the fiscal 2026 defense funding bill contained $194 million to develop and procure an LC-130J, in addition to $29 million for non-recurring engineering secured in the fiscal 2025 package.

Their release said only four of the 10 LC-130H aircraft were mission-capable at any given time and that most of the fleet was built in the 1970s.

European operators have meanwhile been testing comparable methods of reaching polar regions without dedicated ski equipment. A French Air and Space Force A400M landed on Arctic sea ice in northern Greenland in March 2026.The post US Air Force moves closer to ski-equipped C-130J Hercules appeared first on AeroTime.

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