Primary missions for the fleet include close air support (including troops in contact, convoy escort, and urban operations), air interdiction (against both pre-planned targets and targets of opportunity), and force protection (including both air base and facilities defense).Īn AC-130W Stinger II on a gun run during training over Melrose Air Force Range, New Mexico, Jan. The AC-130U, first deployed in 1995, carries the 40 mm gun, 105 mm gun, and an additional 25 mm Gatling gun, along with other system improvements.Īccording to Bill Lane, chief of strike and ISR requirements for Air Force Special Operations Command, AFSOC’s gunship fleet is currently assigned to two bases – Hurlburt Field, Florida, and Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico – although deployment information and specific gunship models or quantities at each location are not publicly discussed. The AC-130H, first deployed in 1972, carries both a 40 mm and 105 mm cannon (20 mm guns that were also carried for a number of years were removed). The Air Force eventually converted 53 C-47s to gunships during the Vietnam War, and lessons learned from the program fed into improved gunship models based on converted Fairchild C-119s and Lockheed C-130s.įast forward a few decades to the Global War on Terrorism, when AFSOC entered the 21st century with a mixed fleet of eight AC-130H “Spectre” gunships and 13 AC-130U “Spooky” gunships. Time lapse photograph of tracers from Miniguns aboard an AC-47 Spooky helping defend Tan Son Nhut Air Base during the enemy Tet Offensive in 1968.
Heithold’s praise for the latest model came just over 50 years after the first test use of an AC-47 in combat, in December 1964.
AC 130 SPECTRE FIRING WINDOWS
The AC-130J “Ghostrider” traces its lineage back to the original AC-47D (initially designated FC-47D), a gunship conversion of a Douglas C-47D Dakota that carried three 7.62 mm “miniguns” firing through two rear windows and the cargo door on the port side.
It will be an ultimate night CAS airplane for special operations.” We’re ‘upgunning’ the aircraft with a 105. “I call it the ‘ultimate battle plane,’ because I’m going to have a ‘dial a bomb’ capability and I’m going to have guns on it. “Most of you know that we’re moving to the AC-130J,” he said.
Turning to the command’s gunships, he said he was “pretty pleased right now with what I’m seeing on the recap efforts of the AC-130.” The AC-130J Ghostrider will bring myriad benefits from the new C-130J airplane platform. Heithold emphasized that current operational environments do not allow AFSOC to “take a knee and recapitalize” but rather require “maintain a level of capability and readiness today with my legacy force as we go through this recap effort.” Bradley Heithold, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), addressed the balance between ongoing platform recapitalization and the acquisition of new special operations platforms. Appearing on the “Major Command Priorities” panel at the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium in February 2015, Lt.
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