Aircraft · Air
KC-130J
Tactical tanker and transport aircraft supporting expeditionary operations.
- Milestones0
- Operators—
- Components—
- Programs—
- Capabilities—
- Inputs—
Photo: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Jade Farrington · Public domain (PD-USGov-Military-Marines) · Full-frame resize and WebP re-encoding from the DVIDS-hosted government photo; no crop.
Timeline
No milestones recorded for KC-130J yet. The timeline fills in as unveilings, tests, contracts and deliveries are sourced.
Cost to the Government
Aircraft · Lockheed Martin
KC-130J Super Hercules
Tanker procurement, development and modeled annual support costs are documented in the KC-130J acquisition report.
Average procurement / aircraft
$85.212M
December 2022 SAR · Constant FY2010 USD
SAR current estimate: $9,458.5M procurement / 111 aircraft, rounded as published. Includes procurement support; not a flyaway quote.
U.S. Navy / DoD ↗Published KC-130J inventory snapshot
67
Undated NAVAIR page · reviewed 2026-10-09 · U.S. only; stated source scope
56 active Marine Corps, 10 Marine Corps Reserve and one VX-20 aircraft. Page does not establish its census date; may lag the current fleet and does not measure mission readiness.
NAVAIR ↗Historical program procurement quantity
111
December 2022 SAR · U.S. only; stated source scope
Acquisition estimate denominator, not aircraft currently fielded.
U.S. Navy / DoD ↗Program RDT&E estimate
$37.8M
December 2022 SAR · Then-year USD
Then-year acquisition estimate for this program, not the entire C-130 family.
U.S. Navy / DoD ↗Annual procurement funding can exist without a new aircraft
PB2025 carries KC-130J funding without a new aircraft quantity in FY2025. Dividing that funding by zero or treating it as a standalone aircraft price would be misleading.
Operations & sustainment
Modeled annual O&S / aircraft
$10.3M / yr
December 2022 SAR · Constant FY2010 USD
Published rounded annual unitized estimate; planned 40-year aircraft service life. Not a current annual expenditure.
U.S. Navy / DoD ↗Reimbursement / flight hour
$15,269 / hr
FY2026 · Nominal USD; Other DoD Component
Separate billing reference, not added to modeled annual O&S.
DoD Comptroller ↗Cost over time · 3 observations
Each row retains its original scope and dollar basis. Changing quantities, service life and inflation can change the estimate without changing the price of building one unit.
| Observation | Measure | Amount | Dollar basis | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2023 actual | KC-130J annual procurement funding Annual program funding, not a complete-system unit price or delivered quantity. PB2025 snapshot. | $468.6M | Nominal USD; dated budget snapshot | DoD Comptroller ↗ |
| FY2024 budget | KC-130J annual procurement funding Annual program funding, not a complete-system unit price or delivered quantity. PB2025 snapshot. | $241.3M | Nominal USD; dated budget snapshot | DoD Comptroller ↗ |
| FY2025 request | KC-130J annual procurement funding Annual program funding, not a complete-system unit price or delivered quantity. PB2025 snapshot. | $33.4M | Nominal USD; dated budget snapshot | DoD Comptroller ↗ |
Contracts & purchasing · 0 records
Award values, ceilings and purchase agreements have different meanings. These records are not added together as total spending.
No primary-source contract record verified in this review. This does not mean there are no contracts.
International buyers
Kuwait · Quantity not verified · FMS case supported · December 2022 SAR
SAR identifies active Kuwait cases; quantity and complete export-package price are not established here.
U.S. Navy / DoD ↗United States · Quantity not verified · U.S. program customer · Dated source snapshot
Purchases and program plans are not a current operational inventory.
U.S. Navy / DoD ↗
Coverage & open research
- Buyer records are selected examples, not a complete global order book.
Unit costs and contract unit prices for this system, and budget figures for the programs that buy it. Each figure states its dollar basis and links its source; contract values are under Programs & awards.