Ah yes! Here we go again!
It's very interesting to witness discussions on the C-130J. I'll try & pitch my reply to those who may have:
A. never flown a C-130J or
B. never flown a C-130 in the tactical role, or
C. both of the above.
Just for the record, I fortuitously fall into none of the above categories, having done well over half my military flying time of 4000 odd transport hours in the tactical role on aircraft (including the C130E/H) with & without flight engineers/navs.
The senior officer to whom you refer, who stated that 'the C130J is just a strat aircraft & needs no self protection' is what I would call...............let me think about this...............an idiot. Yes I know you're as surprised as I am that such a senior officer could exist, but it's true.
The C130J MTOW is nominally 155,000 pounds, which is precisely the same as any other Herc I've ever flown. It also has exactly the same overload capacity as any other Herc I've ever flown, so I'm not sure where Mike RO'Channel's theory originates. Maybe I've been reading the limits wrong for all those years. I can't speak for the stubby J, but the stretched version does indeed suffer a weight penalty. Funnily enough it's mostly due to all that extra fuselage they plugged into it (damn, I thought they were going to make it out of paper mache but they made it out of metal, silly fools). It doesn't really fall into my definition of 'significant'. The range issue is more complex than meets the eye, and very much depends on what you are doing with it. Sure, it has no external tanks (although these can always be fitted as it has all the necessary plumbing, software, etc), which makes its total fuel capacity significantly less than older hercs. But it can climb higher to start with and enjoy the benefits of reduced fuel flow earlier. It also travels quite a bit faster, thus providing more beer drinking time at the other end - the greatest benefit one could bestow on any transport aircraft in my opinion. In some circumstances it may have less range than an H or E due to the lack of external tanks, but whichever way you look at it, it depends on that ancient trash-hauling balancing act between payload, fuel, mission requirements, etc. It is certainly not always a limiting problem, especially if we're talking about a tactical role.
Interesting statement that two pilots at low level just doesn't work. I guess Lockheed must be working on a Joint Strike Fighter with a Nav and a Flight Engineer, and perhaps my time flying two pilot fixed-wing tactical transport missions at low level was a figment of my imagination (not to mention all the chopper pilots out there you've just insulted).
Seriously though, while the J has had its fair share of teething problems (show me a glass cockpit aeroplane which hasn't and I will hand-stand naked on top of the statue of liberty), I can see little or no impediment, apart from people afraid of losing their jobs or who have very limited experience flying different types of aircraft, to flying the C130J on low level tactical transport ops. When it inevitably does, it would be foolish not to equip it with self protection, especially as it already has the built-in capacity for a
very capable system.
The RAAF probably won't do it however, as the concepts of:
a. built-in capacity
b. highly capable systems
c. easy retro-fitting
are all beyond the understanding of those in charge of policy and materiel acquisition.