The Commando Solo bows out
September 22, 2024
The 193rd Special Operations Wing said goodbye to its last two EC-130J Commando Solo III aircraft (96-8153 and 99-1933) on 18 September, when the aircraft made their final flights from Middletown, Pennsylvania. The EC-130J was a converted C-130J Super Hercules, optimised for the psychological warfare role, and its retirement marks a shift in US priorities away from asymmetric counter-insurgency missions to near-peer operations (with a focus on China and Russia). Retirement may also have been driven by the high cost of modernising onboard systems, the changing way in which people receive news, and by the availability of alternative means of achieving the mission.
The two EC-130Js had been ‘demodified’, and were bound for Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, home to the 189th Airlift Wing, the ANG’s Hercules ‘schoolhouse’. the ex-193rd aircraft still retained their Air Force Special Operations Command dark-gray paint scheme and their air-to-air refueling receptacles, something not found on standard C-130J models.
The EC-130J was the US Air Force’s primary psychological warfare platform, providing Military Information Support Operations (MISO) and civil affairs broadcast capabilities. The EC-130J’s role was to conduct airborne information operations via digital and analogue radio and TV broadcasts. It was able to broadcast messages on AM, FM, HF, and TV waves, transmitting up to 14 simultaneous broadcasts repeating the same or independent messages on each channel. In addition to pre-recorded messages, the EC-130J has the capability of conducting live broadcasts.
Roles include offensive counterinformation radio, television, and military communications broadcast, Electronic Attack (EA – sometimes referred to as Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations), as well as SOF mobility.
The aircraft featured enhanced self-protection including Large Aircraft IR Countermeasures (LAIRCM) to counter MANPADS threats, and was usually operated by a crew of two pilots, two loadmasters, a flight systems officer, a mission systems officer and five electronic communications systems (CS) operators.
Legacy Commando Solo variants have conducted psychological operations in almost every US contingency since 1980, taking part in Operations Urgent Fury, Just Cause, Desert Storm, and Iraqi Freedom, while the EC-130J debuted in combat during Enduring Freedom in 2001, and also flew in Operations Unified Protector and Inherent Resolve. The airplane was also used for humanitarian missions, such as after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, in which it was used to broadcast warnings and instructions to civilians below.
With the transition to the J model, the USAF added a new, secondary electronic attack and special operations mission and added four ‘Super J’ variants to the 193rd’s complement. The three heavily modified EC-130J Commando Solo aircraft served as a standard broadcasting station for psychological warfare operations while the four ‘Super Js’ performed secondary, low-cost EA and special operations support missions.
The USAF began modernizing the fleet with the new Multi-Mission Platform-Heavy (MMP-H) digital broadcast system in 2018. The software-defined digital system is capable of UHF/VHF and AM/FM radio, cellular, and television broadcast as well as advanced EA at a stand-off range of up to 175 miles. To keep pace with information-technology systems, message playback could now be achieved using digitally stored media, e.g. hard drives, but the system was still capable of accepting legacy media formats (CD/DVD etc.). The MMP-H system included a roll-on internal payload as well as an external podded CEASAR (Communication EA Surveillance and Reconnaissance) and Long-Range Broadcast System (LRBS). This gave both variants full MISO and EA capabilities.
Commando Solo flew its final broadcast sortie on 16 September 2022, and all three aircraft were retired in FY23. The four Super-Js will be de-converted to standard C-130J ‘trash hauler’ configuration before being transferred to the ANG schoolhouse at Little Rock.
The 193rd is transitioning to a new role, as part of AFSOC’s multi-mission fleet consolidation. The Wing will operate the MC-130J Commando II which flies clandestine or low visibility single or multi-ship, low-level infiltration, exfiltration and resupply missions in support of special operations forces, using precision airdrop or by airlanding. The aircraft also fly air-to-air refuelling missions for special operations helicopters and tiltrotor aircraft. The Wing received its first MC-130J in August, 2023.
