The Navy has accepted a C-130J-30 from Lockheed Martin that will become an E-130J Phoenix II, its future TACAMO aircraft for airborne nuclear command-and-control support

MARIETTA, Ga. — A C-130J-30 Super Hercules rolled into Navy hands at Lockheed Martin’s Marietta plant on Oct. 15, the first step in turning a standard airlifter into the E-130J Phoenix II. That aircraft is meant to carry TACAMO, the Navy’s airborne link between national leadership and the nation’s nuclear forces. The airframe does not stay a cargo plane for long: it now goes to Northrop Grumman for conversion.

The handover starts the return of a Hercules to a mission one last flew in 1993. For three decades the mission flew on the EC-130Q, then moved to the E-6B Mercury, the aircraft the E-130J is meant to succeed, according to the Navy…