The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationhas tapped Lockheed Martin to build C-130J Super Hercules aircraft that will be specially-equipped as hurricane hunters to fly straight into storms with specialized instruments to gather data.
The $328 million order announced last month is for two C-130Js to be built in Marietta that would join NOAA’s fleet in 2030, while options for two additional planes would bring the total to about $847 million, according to the agency.
“Our climate is changing significantly. Severe weather is happening more frequently, and as a result, we need more capabilities,” said U.S. Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves, who toured the Lockheed Martin plant in Marietta on Tuesday. The research from hurricane hunter aircraft “gives us the ability to understand how these storms form, how they develop, and the impact that they have on communities.”
That can be used to give people more time to evacuate when a life-threatening storm looms and to make more precise predictions of where a storm will hit so the Federal Emergency Management Agency can position emergency teams closer to affected areas, according to Graves.
“This new capability is going to give us the confidence that we’re getting these predictions just right, so we can make determinations like we did with Hurricane Helene” with notices of evacuation days in advance, Graves said. “It allowed people to move out of the way. It allowed our first responders to get their equipment in place ahead of time.”
“These (storms) are going to happen more and more frequently,” he said.
Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency Director James Stallings, who joined Graves on the visit to the Marietta aircraft factory, said officials in Georgia also make many decisions based on information from NOAA.
“Having this information that goes extremely far in the decisions that we’re going to make: Should we evacuate? … How far inland do we need to go?” Stallings said. “We’re certainly proud that it’s going to be Georgians building this capability.”
Graves said in addition to supporting jobs in Georgia, the NOAA order would also support jobs at facilities that supply C-130J components in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Mississippi.
The C-130J cargo aircraft will be modified as a “flying laboratory” with radar, high-speed internet and instrument ports to provide data for atmospheric research and improved predictions of severe weather. They’ll also be able to launch and control drones.
The C-130Js will replace the Lockheed WP-3D Orion, which have been in use since the 1970s as hurricane hunters by NOAA. The C-130J contract is funded partly through the 2023 Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act.
OtherC-130J Hercules aircraft are usedas hurricane hunters operated on reconnaissance missions by the Air Force Reserve, collecting data for National Hurricane Center forecasts. They flew during hurricanes Helene and Milton, finding that tropical storm force winds(39 mph or greater) extended 345 miles from the center of Helene, and found Milton had intensified, according to the center.
NOAA also uses the Gulfstream IV jet for high-altitude flights for hurricane forecasting and research. The G-IV flies around and over developing tropical cyclones to analyze weather systems in the upper atmosphere.
NOAA in 2019 ordered a G550 from Savannah-based Gulfstream Aerospace to be delivered in 2025 to replace the Gulfstream IV. In July, NOAA announced it was exercising a $116 million contract option with Gulfstream to order another fully-modified G550 for hurricane and tropical storm forecasts, atmospheric research and other missions, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. It is expected to join NOAA’s fleet in 2028.
The C-130Js and the G550s will be based at the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland, Florida, along withthe rest of NOAA’s fleet of planes that gather environmental data.
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