U.S. Coast Guard’s new patrol plane lands in Sacramento

The U.S. Coast Guard held a ceremony at Air Station Sacramento, California, marking delivery of the station’s first HC-130J Super Hercules, the aircraft that will eventually replace its smaller C-27J Spartan patrol planes. Vice Adm. Joseph Buzzella, commander of U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area, presided over the event.

“This is a monumental step forward for Air Station Sacramento and the future of Coast Guard aviation,” Buzzella said. “The HC-130J will be critical to detecting and interdicting migrant and narcotics flows through the maritime approaches to our nation.”

The HC-130J is built for heavy air transport and long-range maritime patrol, cruising at 320 knots (368 mph) with a range of 4,900 nautical miles (9,070 km) and more than 20 hours of endurance. Its mission equipment lets it detect, classify and identify vessels or aircraft and pass that information to other forces in real time, and it can also serve as an airborne command post during a search-and-rescue or law enforcement operation.

The aircraft delivered to Sacramento, designated CGNR-2018, is the 18th Super Hercules the Coast Guard has fitted with its specialized mission equipment, a process the service calls missionization. A second aircraft bound for Sacramento, the fleet’s 19th, entered that process in June 2026 at L3Harris’s facility in Waco, Texas, and is expected to arrive at the station around spring 2027.

Sacramento’s shift to the larger aircraft is funded largely through $1.142 billion the Coast Guard received in fiscal 2025 budget reconciliation specifically for fixed-wing aircraft. That money is part of a roughly $25 billion reconciliation package Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday told Congress in January 2026 was the most significant investment in Coast Guard history. The funding is extending HC-130J operations to two additional air stations beyond the three that already fly the type, Elizabeth City, North Carolina; Kodiak, Alaska; and Barbers Point, Hawaii, bringing the Coast Guard’s total funded HC-130J fleet to 25 aircraft.

Sacramento is planned to eventually operate four HC-130Js. The third and fourth are expected to begin arriving in fiscal year 2030, according to the Coast Guard.