Ladies & gentlemen, meet the EC-130J Commando Solo III! This bad mf has been loitering between Charlottesville, VA & Harrisburg, PA for a while today. Squak 3665 for those interested.

So what, you say?

This Hercules doesn’t haul stuff or blow stuff up. Instead, like the 1930s-era comic book detective The Shadow, it has the power to cloud the mind of the enemy. The Commando Solo is a very rare version of the Hercules. According to an Air Force fact sheet, only three airframes are in service, all with the 193rd Special Operations Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. It is equipped as a flying radio and TV station, capable of broadcasting AM radio, FM radio, and color television.

The plane has seen action a number of times, including during the liberation of Grenada (Operation Urgent Fury), Operation Just Cause, Desert Storm, the 1994 intervention in Haiti, the Balkans, and in the War on Terror. I've never seen one operating over the continental U.S.

Oh yeah. There's a second one prowling around the east coast out over the Atlantic. It's popping on & off of ADS-B Exchange, but I've seen it several times. Squaking at 2752.

Want to see inside one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FYyXlaY-Ic

Throw in a few E-6 Mercury's, a few Blackhawks & an absurd number of transports. That's continental US airspace this morning.