The world’s largest fleet of ski-equipped military transport aircraft just added another capability: operating from the surface of frozen lakes.
A Lockheed Martin LC-130 “Skibird” from the USA’s New York state Air National Guard successfully landed on the frozen surface of Parsons Lake in Canada’s remote Northwest Territories region on 5 March.
The sortie was part of annual Arctic-focused military drills organised by Canada called Operation Nanook-Nunalivut.
“Landing LC-130s on fresh water ice opens up significant tactical and strategic opportunities, especially in remote and Arctic regions,” says the 109th Airlift Wing, which is the only global operator of the specialised polar transport.
Based on Lockheed’s prolific C-130 Hercules transport, the LC-130 is the largest ski-equipped tactical aircraft in the world, according to the US Air Force (USAF). The type uses Teflon-coated skis fitted over the standard wheeled landing gear that allow it to concurrently operate from both conventional tarmac and austere polar landing fields.
While landing on snow and ice runways is nothing new for the American crews operating the 109th’s fleet of 10 LC-130s, the 5 March action marks the first time one of the four-engined turboprops has used a landing site made of freshwater ice.
The Skibirds regularly fly resupply missions to Greenland and Antarctica, normally using airfields built on permanent sea ice or land-based snow fields, rather than freshwater lakes that are only seasonally frozen.
An advance team from the 109th unsuccessfully searched more than 25,000 miles (40,200km) of Northwest Territories coastline looking for a suitable patch of sea ice that would support an LC-130 landing during Nanook-Nunalivut.
Finding none, the 109th says the ground personnel – known as a Polar Camp Skiway Team (PCST) – expanded its search to include inland freshwater lakes. They eventually settled on the frozen Parsons Lake, an approximately 6 mile (9.5km)-long body of water that sits at nearly 69° north latitude, just south of Canada’s Arctic Ocean coastline.
There, the PCST constructed a temporary camp and a “ski landing area” capable of supporting LC-130 operations.
“We were grooming the ski landing area from sunrise to sunset every day to ensure it was ready for the LC-130 to land,” says Master Sergeant Casey Preyer-Blakney, a member of the PCST.
Construction of the Parsons Lake ice landing field and support camp was supported by rotary-wing aircraft and light transports from the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
These included Boeing CH-47F heavy-lift and Bell CH-146 utility helicopters and ski-equipped De Havilland Canada CC-138 Twin Otter turboprops. Over 17 sorties, the RCAF aircraft dropped 10,400kg (23,000lb) of cargo and personnel to the Parsons Lake camp and ice landing field.
LC-130s were subsequently able to fly eight missions during the exercises, providing rapid resupply and transporting spare parts for the RCAF’s CC-138 from the city of Yellowknife, a flight distance of more than 895nm (1,660km).
Lieutenant Colonel Steve Thompson with the RCAF’s 440 Transport Squadron, which operates the CC-138, lauded the teaming of the smaller Twin Otter with the larger LC-130 as a model for supporting Arctic operations, describing the pairing as making a “stronger force”.
“The interoperability between the Twin Otter and LC-130 Hercules in the past has proven to be a very successful combination and we look forward to working together again in the future,” Thompson says.
Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Sala, the deployed commander of the 109th, says the confirmed viability of frozen lakes as landing zones improves the operational flexibility of allied forces by opening up area otherwise inaccessible to conventional aircraft.
Sala said that by using lakes as landing zones, the military gains access to areas otherwise inaccessible by conventional aircraft, enhancing operational flexibility.
While the 109th’s normal mission involves providing logistics support to US scientific expeditions in Antarctica and Greenland, during a crisis the LC-130s could be called upon to rapidly deploy personnel or equipment to areas without a traditional runway.
“We are excited to see what the future holds for the LC-130 Hercules and 109th Airlift Wing as we continue to evolve our capabilities in the Arctic,” Sala says.
In 2024, New York state’s two US senators called for a recapitalisation of the Skibird fleet, noting the Pentagon’s small inventory of the specialised – and ageing – aircraft.
Those aircraft range in age from 29 to 51 years old, according to fleet data from aviation analytics company Cirium. They are based on the older C-130H.
“As these planes approach the end of their service life, LC-130H operators and aircrew face a dangerous level of uncertainty during airlift missions,” said senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand in a joint letter to the Pentagon.
“This uncertainty jeopardises our ability to project power in the Arctic and Antarctic,” the pair added.
The USAF has requested some $464 million over the next five years to fund a C-130H avionics modernisation programme, which would include the LC-130 fleet.
The service has made other improvements to the existing LC-130s over the years, including an improved Collins Aerospace NP2000 eight-bladed propeller system.
Designed specifically for the LC-130 Antarctica mission, the NP2000 offers up to 20% greater thrust during take off and a 50% reduction to maintenance hours, according to Collins.
The older four-bladed Hamilton Standard 54H60 propellers often required LC-130s to take-off over extremely long distances, making use of ground effect to achieve sufficient lift.
See more photos of the LC-130 operating from Parsons Lake:
