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The new KC-130J Super Hercules tanker offers the U.S. Marine Corps increased utility and much needed improvement in mission performance. As a force multiplier, the J-model tanker is capable of refueling both fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft as well as conducting rapid ground refueling. The refueling speed envelope has been widened from 100 to 270 knots (500 km/h) indicated airspeed, offering more capability and flexibility. Offload rates per refueling pod can be up to 300 gallons per minute simultaneously. The KC-130's offload is significantly greater than previous Hercules tankers. As an example, at 1,000 nautical miles (1,852 km), the fuel offload is well over 45,000 pounds (20,412 kg).

Since its combat debut in Afghanistan in 2010, Marine crews flying a specially configured armed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, or ISR, variant of the KC-130J Super Hercules tanker called Harvest HAWK (Hercules Airborne Weapons Kit), have been very busy. With its long loiter time, multiple radios, sensor to find and track insurgents or vehicles, and, most importantly to the Marines on the ground, its ability to launch a laser-guided Hellfire or Griffin missile and have those weapons hit exactly where and when needed, Harvest Hawk quickly became a Big Stick.

Harvest Hawk is an accelerated Marine Corps program to meet an urgent needs statement from the Marine ground combat element in theater. It is MIR (Multi-sensor Imagery Reconnaissance) tied to CAS (Close Air Support) in a permissive air environment that is persistent beyond any other platform. With the addition of the Marine Corps's ISR / Weapon Mission Kit, the KC-130J will be able to serve as an overwatch aircraft and can deliver ground support fire in the form of Hellfire or Griffin missiles, precision-guided bombs, and eventually 30mm cannon fire in a later upgrade.

In modern warfare, overwatch is the state of one small unit or military vehicle supporting another unit, while they are executing fire and movement tactics. An overwatching, or supporting unit has taken a position where it can observe the terrain ahead, especially likely enemy positions. This allows it to provide effective covering fire for advancing friendly units. The term overwatch originates in U.S. military doctrine.

Externally, what sets Harvest Hawk apart from other KC-130Js is underneath the left wing. Instead of a KC-130J hose refueling pod on the outboard wing station, there is an M299 quad-mount Hellfire missile launcher from an AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter.

The AGM-114P Hellfire II, with a twenty-pound high-explosive antitank warhead, is the primary weapon for Harvest Hawk. In the first two Harvest Hawk deployments, one each from VMGR-352 at MCAS Miramar, California, and VMGR-252 at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina, crews launched more than 100 Hellfires, recording nearly all direct hits. The typical loadout is four Hellfire missiles and 10 Griffin GPS guided missiles.

The electro-optical, infrared, and laser targeting sensor, called a Target Sight Sensor, or TSS, on Harvest Hawk comes from an AH-1Z Super Cobra and is mounted in an empty external fuel tank on the left inboard station. The sensor can see individual targets clearly from more than ten miles away.

The Harvest Hawk fire control console, or FCC, and the mission computer from the Navy’s SH-60 Seahawk multipurpose helicopter are mounted to a reinforced 463L cargo system pallet installed in the KC-130J’s cargo compartment. The aircraft retains its original capabilities in refueling and transportation. The entire system can be removed in less than a day if necessary.

In Harvest Hawk, two additional display monitors are permanently installed on the flight deck primarily to allow the pilot to see the sensor images the fire control officer is watching and to allow the copilot to look at the FalconView display that combines aeronautical charts, satellite images, and elevation maps along with other information. The pilot also has a consent-to-lase and fire button located near the throttles.

The final component in the Harvest Hawk kit is the launcher, avionics, and associated equipment for the AGM-175 Griffin missiles. These missiles, which have a smaller warhead and less powerful rocket motor than Hellfire, were originally housed in a cargo ramp-mounted box launcher, shown here. To fire this missile, crews would have to go on oxygen and depressurize the aircraft prior to lowering the ramp for launch. Because of the increased difficulty and the missile’s shorter range, Griffins were launched against targets only about ten percent of the time.

Harvest Hawk aircraft now have a dual missile launcher for Griffin located in the left paratroop door along with what is called a wine rack that holds ten missile launch tubes. This launcher, called a Derringer Door, allows the crew to keep the aircraft pressurized during launch. A third type of weapon, the GBU-44 Viper Strike glide bomb, is now being tested on Harvest Hawk. Viper Strike, which is used primarily by Special Operations Forces, is also launched through the Derringer Door.

The seven-member Harvest Hawk crews, by necessity, become an integrated team. The aircraft commander is the airborne supervisor of flying, deconflicting the airspace and clearing out friendlies—other US or coalition aircraft—prior to a missile launch. He also helps develop the target attack plan with the fire control officer and, once the aircraft is in position, gives consent first to fire the targeting laser and then to launch the missile.

The copilot is in charge of the basics—navigating and flying the aircraft, using the aircraft’s seven radios to communicate with air assets, ground commanders, and, as necessary, higher command headquarters. The crewmaster, a flying crew chief who normally runs the refueling panel, changes the radio frequencies and looks out the window as another set of eyes.

 In the aircraft’s cargo compartment, the primary fire control officer, or FCO locates, tracks, and designates the targets; coordinates surveillance; and talks directly with troops on the ground. The second FCO, sitting next to the primary FCO at the fire control console, is the backup.

During an attack, the combined job of the Harvest Hawk flight deck crew and the fire control officers is to get the aircraft in the optimal position to shoot. The aircrew adjusts each attack depending on the target. Once the target is designated and locked, the aircraft is in position, and the pilot has received permission from battalion to fire and then has given his consent to fire, the FCO lifts the cover on the Hellfire launch button and pushes it.

A Hellfire missile launch in Afghanistan captured with a crewmember's cell phone. “After all the radio chatter and making sure we have the target correlated, it gets very quiet when the FCO says ‘Rifle’ and the missile goes off the rail. It’s an adrenaline rush.”
— Capt. Josh Mallon, Harvest Hawk pilot and VMGR-252 weapons officer.

Three KC-130J aircraft have been modified as Harvest Hawk, with one assigned to VMGR-252 at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina. Another aircraft is currently assigned to the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division test facility at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, and one is with VMGR-352 at MCAS Miramar, California;Current plans call for three additional Harvest Hawk kits, making a total of six operational aircraft. Four additional operational KC-130Js will be wired to accept the Harvest Hawk equipment.

A recently installed desktop Harvest Hawk fire control console simulator prepares the crew members for the five qualification flights. The second simulator event for a new fire control officer is with the aircraft commander, and the two train side by side. The simulator schooling covers the same profiles as the actual training flights: day weapons employment; integrating with ground forces on close air support and multi-image sensor imagery reconnaissance missions; and urban CAS where shot geometry and zero civilian casualties are important considerations.

The Harvest Hawk instructors sit on the flight deck or behind the student fire control officers and often simulate communications from the ground forces. But more and more, training flights are with actual ground forces the Harvest Hawk crew will be working with in theater. There is high demand to train with Harvest Hawk.

The Harvest Hawk instructors, who sit on the flight deck or behind the student fire control officers, often simulate communications from the ground forces. Students go through five training flights: day weapons employment; integrating with ground forces on close air support and multi-image sensor imagery reconnaissance missions; and urban CAS where shot geometry and zero civilian casualties are important considerations. The capstone is a live fire mission in which each FCO launches a Hellfire and a Griffin.

During a detailed debrief after a flight, students own up to mistakes, review the attack profiles with the instructors, and go over how each mission element could have been done better. Details are important. After one mission, one instructor told the students what level to set the volume on the radios—the more important radios should be kept at a higher volume. The urgency of the Harvest Hawk mission is emphasized during training.

"It’s important for a crew to get a well-planned shot off quickly. The consequences of a missile being on target thirty seconds late versus being on target three minutes late because the aircraft had to go around are dramatic for that Marine on the ground."
— Capt. Michael Wyrsch, a Harvest Hawk fire control officer and former AV-8B pilot who will soon enter F-35 pilot training.

“Before Harvest Hawk got to Afghanistan, naysayers called it useless. But we have effectively connected Harvest Hawk to the Marine ground force. While we were in Afghanistan, we flew just about every day watching, relaying information, or prosecuting targets. Units all over Helmand Province regularly began requesting us by name. The British began calling us the Helmand Rock Stars.”
— Capt. Dusty Cook, a VMGR-252 Harvest Hawk pilot, who will be one of three Marine Aviators flying Fat Albert, the C-130 support aircraft for the Navy's Blue Angels aerobatic team, in 2014.