First EC-130J building

[Zaphod58]

The first C-130J-30 that will eventually go to the US Navy for their new EC-130J TACAMO program has begun building. The official name of the program is E-130J, and it will replace the E-6B Mercury that is currently used for both the TACAMO and Looking Glass mission. The Navy has already acquired three pre-production aircraft for evaluation of mission systems and the aircraft. Once active, the aircraft will base at Tinker AFB, along side the E-6B aircraft, until they reach the end of their life cycle. The E-6B is currently planned to fly until some time in the 2030s, and is undergoing the Block II upgrade.

The US Navy has assigned the E-130J airborne command post and communication relay aircraft to replace the E-6B Mercury as the next Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) mission platform.
The designation is part of an effort to move on from the Boeing-made fleet, which has been operating for the service’s TACAMO tasks since the late 1980s for “no-fail” coordination between the Executive Office, the Secretary of Defense, the US Strategic Command, and the Naval Ballistic Missile Forces.
TACAMOs also facilitate the launch of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles through an airborne launch control system concurrently with an underground command and control post.

https://thedefensepost.com/2024/10/28/us...placement/