Based on the USAF C-130E airframe, it was modified to conduct search and rescue missions, provide a command and control platform, conduct in-flight refueling of helicopters, and carry supplemental fuel in additional internal cargo bay fuel tanks for extending range or air refueling.

To enhance the probability of mission success and survivability near populated areas, USAF HC-130 crews employ tactics that include incorporating no external lighting or communications and avoiding radar and weapons detection.

Other capabilities are extended visual and electronic searches over land or water, tactical airborne radar approaches and unimproved airfield operations.

A team of three Pararescuemen, trained in emergency trauma medicine, harsh environment survival and assisted evasion techniques, is part of the basic mission crew complement.

Like their USAF counterparts, USCG HC-130s also have the capability of air dropping rescue equipment to survivors at sea or over open terrain.

[5] The MC-130P Combat Shadow series of aircraft initially entered service in December 1965 during the Vietnam War as the HC-130H CROWN airborne controller.

The CROWN airborne controllers located downed aircrew and directed Combat Search and Rescue operations over North Vietnam.

[10] They initially operated in a logistic support role until they received significant modifications, including installations of a large window on each side of the fuselage to allow crew members to visually scan the sea surface, the addition of an inverse synthetic aperture sea search radar, flare tubes, a forward-looking infrared/electro-optical sensor, a gaseous oxygen system for the crew and an enhanced communications suite.

This test procedure also applied to the MC-130J Combat Shadow II aircraft in production for Air Force Special Operations Command.

[23] The United States Coast Guard operates 18 HC-130H aircraft from three bases around the United States:[24] These aircraft are used for search and rescue, enforcement of laws and treaties, illegal drug interdiction, marine environmental protection, military readiness, International Ice Patrol missions, as well as cargo and personnel transport.

In October 2003, operational responsibility for the Continental United States (CONUS) and Alaskan air search and rescue (SAR) mission, as well as the worldwide combat search and rescue (CSAR) mission was transferred to the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) at Hurlburt Field, Florida.

HC-130s also support continuous alert commitments in Alaska, and provided rescue coverage for NASA Space Shuttle operations in Florida until that program's termination in 2011.

The USAF's first HC-130Js gained initial operating capability (IOC) in April 2013,[28] permitting retirement of the first group of HC-130P aircraft based on C-130E airframes that were built in the mid and late 1960s.

[31] On 20 February 1972, Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Allison, USAF, and his flight crew,(CPT Richard J. Racette, Aircraft Commander, Niles IL; CPT David E. Gardner, Pilot, South Gate CA; MAJ Anthony Liparulo, Navigator, New London, CT; CPT Carl E. Bennett, Navigator, Hamilton TX; TSGT Morelle E. Larouche, Flight Engineer, Holyoke MA; TSGT William F. Litton, Flight Engineer, Pennington Gap PA; TSGT Theodore Trainer, Loadmaster, Wapabo WA; TSGT Robert Landry, Crew Chief, New Orleans, LA; Major Kenneth S. Wayne, Flight Surgeon, Oak Park IL; SSGT William L. Hippert, Radio Operator, Rahway NJ; SSGT Pat E. Carrothers, Radio Operator, Lake Charles LA.)

The USAF Lockheed HC-130H was flown from Ching Chuan Kang Air Base, Republic of China (Taiwan), to Scott AFB, Illinois in the United States.