The potential option involves Special Operations Command completing modifications to bring in-production C-130Js to the MC-130J standard.
Two US Air Force Lockheed Martin MC-130J special operations transports destroyed in Iran during an April rescue mission could be replaced with modified variants of the standard C-130J variant.
That is according to US Special Operations Command’s (SOCOM) head of fixed-wing aircraft procurement Justin Bronder, who said on 20 May that new-build Hercules transports, which Lockheed is delivering from its Marietta, Georgia production line, can be modified into MC-130J Commando IIs.
“The department has its processes to fund and replace losses in combat,” Bronder says during the annual SOF Week event in Tampa.
In the case of the MC-130Js operated by Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), the process would involve the US Air Force purchasing standard C-130Js and turning them over to SOCOM for modification. AFSOC uses MC-130Js to infiltrate and extract commando teams into hostile territory,
“We team with the air force, which provides the ‘green’ C-130 aircraft,” Bronder notes. “Then our charge is to get the SOF-peculiar modifications on it that transform it into the Commando II, and very soon, the Talon III.”
Combat Talon III, also known as Capability Release 2, is the designation for SOCOM’s modernised MC-130 platform, which will include improvements to the turboprop’s infiltration, exfiltration, air drop and aerial refuelling capabilities.
Upgrades include new Raytheon AN/APQ-187 Silent Knight terrain-following-and-avoidance radars and an electronic countermeasures system designed to improve aircraft survivability. A subsequent planned Capability Release 3 is to include new mission software to help crews identify safe routes to and from objectives.
“[That] provides capabilities such as an auto route re-planner, which really gets after optimised infiltration and exfiltration from a routes perspective,” says Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Sturgeon, material leader of mobility and mission systems at SOCOM’s fixed-wing procurement office.
The latest fiscal year 2027 budget request for SOCOM includes $366 million for subsystems to upgrade both the MC-130J and AC-130J gunship fleets. That is a roughly $120 million increase from FY2026.
Budget documents suggest SOCOM is also looking to reduce crew requirements for MC-130Js; the command has contracted with US start-up Merlin to develop limited-autonomy features for the type.
Bronder says a decision to replace MC-130Js lost in Iran will be made at the Pentagon rather than at SOCOM’s headquarters in Tampa.
“We’re engaged with [that] as appropriate,” he says.
AFSOC concluded its procurement of new MC-130Js in early 2025 with a fleet of 64 aircraft.
The latest draft of the air force FY2027 budget includes $636 million for C-130J procurement but does not specify aircraft quantities. In FY2026, the service received $1.4 billion to cover the purchase of 8 C-130Js.
During recent congressional testimony, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said the Trump Administration is preparing a supplemental budget request to address costs related to the Iran war, including money to replace destroyed equipment and expended munitions.
Acting Pentagon comptroller Jules Hurst says the current estimate puts that price tag around $29 billion.
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