With echoes of centenary disputes between the West and the East still reverberating across the globe, the legendary Lockheed C-130 Hercules will be given an update that will eliminate the need for runways in the most inaccessible areas of the planet. The Hercules has been in service with the US Air Force going back to the peak of the Cold War, branching into dozens of ever more specialized variants since then.As the US Navy has no remaining flying boats in its fleet, an upgraded amphibious version of the reliable multi-purpose aircraft with removable floats is expected to renovate air deployment strategies for the following decades.In the words of journalist Tyler Rogoway: “Although the romantic idea of taking a flying boat to some far-flung exotic locale died many decades ago, the flying boat idea has been coming up lately, but with a futuristic face-lift.”