[1] On 16 December 1994, Lockheed received the launch order for the J-model from the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force (RAF).

[2] The C-130J launch order occurred after a UK government stalemate of several months that concerned whether to buy new transport aircraft from Europe or the United States.

[6] To speed up the sale of military and commercial versions of the aircraft, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) civil certification was pursued before delivery would happen.

[7] The program suffered from problems such as software integration glitches that extended the schedule by three months, followed by a nine-month delay caused by undiscovered stall characteristics that required aircraft modification.

[10] Lockheed Martin changed the cockpit to include a stick pusher, which takes control and automatically pushes down the aircraft's nose if the pilot does not respond to stall warnings.

[8] The stick pusher was meant to be a temporary addition until Lockheed Martin could find an aerodynamic fix for all of the new stall conditions.

[11] This problem forced the company to extend the de-icing system higher and lower on the vertical stabilizer to prevent ice formation, causing another delay of five months.

[16] Deficiencies with the C-130J that were cited to support the decision included being unable to drop heavy equipment, the inability to perform combat search-and-rescue missions, cold-weather performance issues, the risk of paratroopers hitting the fuselage when jumping out of the aircraft, major cost increases, and inadequate radar to fly into hurricanes.

[17] U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld reversed this decision on May 10, 2005, after members of Congress stated that the canceling the pre-existing orders of 62 total Air Force aircraft over the following five years would result in about US$2 billion (~$3 billion in 2023) in termination costs to the government, which would have exceeded the cost of buying the aircraft.

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

[20] With the addition of the Marine Corps ISR / Weapon Mission Kit, the KC-130J tanker variant will be able to serve as an overwatch aircraft and can deliver ground support fire in the form of Hellfire or Griffin missiles, precision-guided bombs, and eventually 30mm Mk44 Bushmaster II cannon fire in a later upgrade.

[21] This capability, designated as "Harvest HAWK" (Hercules Airborne Weapons Kit), can be used in scenarios where precision is not a requisite, such as area denial.

The U.S. Navy's Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) posted a solicitation for fatigue test aircraft to a government procurement website on 18 December 2020.

It is to award Lockheed Martin a contract for three "stretched" Hercules in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 for testing and analysis for the TACAMO mission.

These changes have improved performance over its C-130E/H predecessors, such as 40% greater range, 21% higher maximum speed, and 41% shorter takeoff distance.

Initially developed for the USAF, this system enables rapid role changes to be carried out and so extends the C-130J's time available to complete taskings.

[30][31] In January 2013, it was reported that some of Canada's CC-130J transports had counterfeit Chinese microchips in their cockpit displays that were made by an American Lockheed contractor L3 Communications.

A 14-month investigation by the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee concluded that counterfeit parts in the Hercules and other American-made military equipment are prone to failure with potentially "catastrophic consequences."

The U.S. congressional investigation reported the fake Hercules microchips were originally made by the Korean electronics giant Samsung in the 1990s, and more than a decade later, had been recycled, refurbished and remarked to appear genuine by a different supplier from China.

The U.S. investigation reported that the problems on the Hercules first came to light in 2010 when the instrument panel failed on a U.S. Air Force aircraft during active duty.

[33] On 20 August 2013, the Indian Air Force performed the highest landing of a C-130J at the Daulat Beg Oldi airstrip in Ladakh at the height of 16,614 ft (5,064 m).

The Indian government decided not to sign the Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA), which resulted in the exclusion of high precision GPS and other sensitive equipment.

[54] In October 2011, India announced its intent to exercise the option for the six additional aircraft, following the C-130J's favorable performance in the 2011 Sikkim earthquake relief operations.

[65][66] The first Israeli C-130J was delivered in June 2013 and was modified with Israeli-unique systems in the United States[31] prior to its arrival in Israel in April 2014.

[77] In January 2017, German defence minister announced the intention to purchase three C-130J and three KC-130J Hercules to acquire tactical airlift capabilities due to the delayed deliveries of the Airbus A400M.

[88] In December 2022, the Notice of Award has already been released for the acquisition of three C-130J-30 Super Hercules heavy transport aircraft from Lockheed Martin however no official announcement has been made by both parties including PAF.