U.S. Air Force orders ski gear for newer C-130J Hercules

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Sierra Nevada Corp. a $31.8 million contract to design a modification kit that would convert standard C-130J Super Hercules aircraft into ski-equipped LC-130Js, according to a Department of War contract announcement.

The Colorado-based company will perform non-recurring engineering work, covering the design, development and analysis of the kit, at its facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is managing the contract, which is expected to be completed by March 27, 2028. The announcement listed the aircraft designation as XC-130J, an experimental prefix typically used before an aircraft configuration receives its final production designation.

The Air Force awarded the deal as a sole-source contract, meaning it was not competed among multiple bidders. The full $31.8 million in fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation funds was obligated at the time of award on September 1.

The U.S. Air Force currently operates its only ski-equipped transport aircraft, the LC-130H, through the 109th Airlift Wing, a New York Air National Guard unit based at Stratton Air National Guard Base in Scotia, New York. The wing’s LC-130H fleet traces back to airframes originally built for the U.S. Navy in the 1970s and later converted and transferred to Air Force service. The aircraft fly wheel-and-ski landing gear that lets them land on snow and ice as well as conventional runways.

The 109th Airlift Wing uses the LC-130H fleet to support the National Science Foundation’s U.S. Antarctic Program during Operation Deep Freeze each fall and winter, and flies similar polar support missions to Greenland and other Arctic locations during the Northern Hemisphere summer. Air Force officials have described the unit as the Department of War’s only organization capable of operating ski-equipped aircraft.

A modification kit for the newer C-130J airframe would extend ski-equipped airlift capability to the Air Force’s current-generation Hercules variant, which has been in production since the late 1990s and differs substantially from the older H-model airframes the 109th Airlift Wing now flies. The contract announcement did not specify which unit would eventually operate any LC-130J aircraft, how many kits the Air Force plans to procure, or when ski-equipped C-130Js might reach operational service.