DC-130 Hercules Drone Carrier

The DC-130 is a variant of C-130 Hercules, designed for drone control. It can carry four Firebee drones underneath its wings.

The Strategic Air Command had the DC-130s assigned to the 100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing from 1966 throuigh 1976, when the 100th's drone assets were transferred to the 432nd Tactical Drone Group of the Tactical Air Command. The 100th was then re-designated as the 100th Air Refueling Wing.

Target or strike (weapons carriers) drones were carried on two pylons located under each wing: one between the engines and one on the outboard of the engines. This allowed the DC-130 to carry and control four drones simultaneously. These were never deployed operationally. Only reconnaissance and electric warfare types were used in the field.

DC-130 can launch, track and control the drones. The aircraft contained two launch stations (one for each drone) from which all systems on the drone were activated and checked. From those stations the engines were started, run through their checks and stabilized at the correct power setting for launch. A two-man station, just aft of the flight compartment, contained all the tracking and control functions. Instruments displayed all data transmitted from the drone—such as heading, speed, altitude, power setting and flight attitudes. Navigation and tracking data were fed to a system that plotted the current position of both the drone and DC-130 on a large map board in front of the operators. The planned track of the drone was drawn on the board, which enabled the crew to immediately detect any deviation in the drone's flight path. The drone controllers monitored and recorded video data from drones equipped with TV cameras and recorded any other data collected by other special-purpose drones.

The DC-130 was used in Senior Prom, a program to develop stealthy cruise missiles in 1978.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• DC-130
• drone
• carrier
• aircraft
• airplane
• aviation
• space

[blkxdragon]

Flylthybeest.... I got to Davis Monthan in 1977! Then went to Hill AFB and worked drones in flight test. (AFSC)

[blkxdragon]

They could be flown by either remote control or a computer program. It was actually a secret which mode was being used during any particular flight.

[blkxdragon]

Yes, Firebees were orange to help the Navy see what they were shooting at for target practice. The drones in this video were operational reconnaisance aircraft used in battle. NOT Firebees..I worked on this exact model in the late 70's. we called it the "M" bird referring to the model number. It was used for taking pictures over enemy territory. There was a story about a drone that cause a Mig pilot to eject because he thought he was about to get shot down my an actual fighter jet.

[FUBUXGEAR]

lol my dad worked on these motherships in vietnam fucking awesome to see footage of this. they got a couple of things wrong though, these were purpose built recon drones, as opposed to the earlier target drones, and the majority of them werent remotely piloted, but flew on preprogrammed flight courses.

[FylthyBeest]

Holy crap! I can't believe this is posted. I was assigned to the 100th SRW Command Post in 1974 and 1975. This mission was one of many we controlled in the Davis-Monthan Consolidated Command Post (DMCCP). Unbelievable. Thank you.

[KOBI0070]

what a huge plane!!!

i love DC-130

more then 747.