Guests get to tour the first C-130J-30 Super Hercules plane at the 910th Airlift Wing at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna after the landing ceremony Tuesday afternoon. The plane came from Lockheed Martin’s production plant in Marietta, Georgia.

VIENNA — The new C-130J-30 Super Hercules aircraft, the first of eight that will come to the Youngstown Air Reserve Station over the next two years, is the “capstone of a long list of great things” happening at the air base, its commander said.

“It’s been a long time coming since the secretary of the Air Force, (Frank) Kendall, announced the Youngstown Air Reserve Station as the preferred location for eight C-130Js to today, but we couldn’t be more excited,” Col. Mike Maloney, commander of the base’s 910th Airlift Wing, said Tuesday.

The first C-130J-30 landed at the Vienna base at 3:03 p.m. Tuesday, coming directly from Lockheed Martin’s production plant in Marietta, Georgia.

Air Force Cmdr. Maj. Gen. Melissa Coburn, whose family is originally from Youngstown, landed the plane with Maloney along for the ride.

“It is absolutely a tremendous honor to stand here today as we celebrate the arrival of the C-130J models,” Coburn said. “It’s a significant milestone.”

The first plane arrived Tuesday with a second one expected a few months later. The remaining six will arrive about one every three months with the last one coming in mid-2026, Maloney said.

The planes are replacing C-130H models at YARS that were built between 1989 and 1992 and were assigned to the air base in 1994 when the 910th received its airlift wing designation.

The new planes cost about $109.75 million each for a total investment of $878 million.

YARS had 10 C-130H planes, with two of them on backup status, Maloney said. Those two backup planes have already been reassigned: one for airborne training and the other for aircraft maintenance training, he said.

As each new C-130J arrives, a C-130H will leave YARS and be reassigned to the National Guard, Maloney said.

Compared to the C-130H, the C-130J reduces manpower requirements by two personnel per aircraft, lowers operating and support costs, flies faster, is more fuel efficient and provides life-cycle cost savings over earlier models, Maloney said.

YARS has about 2,000 employees, most of them reservists and active duty, and an annual economic impact of about $150 million.

The base is home to the U.S. Department of Defense’s only large-area fixed-wing aerial spray unit. It controls disease-carrying insects, pest insects and undesirable vegetation as well as dispersing oil spills in large bodies of water.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, started working on getting new aircrafts at YARS about 10 years ago with former Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, and local members of the U.S. House — including Democrat Tim Ryan and Republican Bill Johnson, who no longer serve, and Republican Dave Joyce.

Brown, who was at Tuesday’s event, said: “After a years-long fight, the men and women stationed at YARS will have the new state-of-the-art planes they need to do their jobs.”

The new planes show the Air Force’s long-term commitment to YARS, Brown said.

Coburn said the effort to get the new planes to YARS is “a remarkable accomplishment.”

She said: “The C-130J Super Hercules is symbol of our shared dedication to excellence, resilience and service,” and for YARS, “the future is bright and with the C-130J, we are ready to soar to new heights.”

In addition to the new planes, an $11 million main gate relocation project broke ground in April and will be finished by August 2025, an $8 million resurfacing of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport’s 9,000-foot taxiway that leads to the facility’s main runway and connects to YARS will begin shortly, and a new $25 million fire station will be built at the air base.

“The Youngstown Air Reserve Station is in an era of transformation to ensure the combat readiness of every 910th airman,” Maloney said. “The arrival of this aircraft is the capstone of a long list of great things happening this year” at the base.

Have an interesting story? Contact David Skolnick by email at dskolnick@vindy.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @dskolnick.