Lockheed AC-130

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Image:AC-130 Gunship (front view).jpg

The AC-130 Gunship is an armed variant of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Manufacturing is a cooperation between Boeing and Lockheed.

The primary missions of the United States Air Force's AC-130H Spectre and AC-130U Spooky gunships are close air support, air interdiction, and force protection. Missions in close air support are troops in contact, convoy escort and urban operations. Air interdiction missions are conducted against planned targets or targets of opportunity. Force protection missions include air base defense and facilities defense.

Equipment

These heavily armed aircraft incorporate side-firing weapons integrated with sophisticated sensor, navigation and fire control systems to provide targeted firepower or area saturation whilst spending long periods flying over their target area at night and in adverse weather. The sensor suite consists of a television sensor, infrared sensor, and radar. These sensors allow the gunship to visually or electronically identify friendly ground forces and targets in most conditions. The AC-130U is equipped with the AN/APQ-180, a synthetic aperture radar for long-range target detection and identification. The gunship's navigational devices include the inertial navigation systems and global positioning system. The AC-130U employs technologies developed in the 1990s and can attack two targets simultaneously. It also has twice the munitions capacity of the AC-130H.

History

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• First flight: AC-130H: 1966 (AC-130U: 20 December 1990)
• Entered service: AC-130H: 1972 (AC-130U: 1995)

The AC-130 gunship has a combat history dating to the Vietnam War, where it replaced the AC-47 and the AC-119. Gunships destroyed more than 10,000 trucks and were credited with many crucial close air support missions. During Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada in 1983, AC-130s suppressed enemy air defense systems and attacked ground forces enabling the successful assault of the Point Salines Airfield via airdrop and air land of friendly forces. The AC-130 aircrew earned the Lt. Gen. William H. Tunner Award for the mission.

AC-130s also had a primary role during Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989 when they destroyed Panama Defense Force headquarters and numerous command and control facilities. Aircrews earned the Mackay Trophy for the most meritorious flight of the year and the Tunner Award for their efforts.

During Operation Desert Storm, AC-130s provided close air support and force protection (air base defense) for ground forces. Gunships were also used during operations Operation Restore Hope and United Shield in Somalia, providing close air support for United Nations ground forces. More recently, gunships played a pivotal role in supporting the NATO mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The AC-130H provided air interdiction against key targets in the Sarajevo area.

In 1997, gunships were diverted from Italy to provide combat air support for U.S. and allied ground troops during the evacuation of American noncombatants in Albania. Gunships also were part of the buildup of U.S. forces in 1998 to convince Iraq to comply with U.N. weapons inspections. Gunships were later used in the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 Iraq War.

Current deployment

The AC-130H is produced at a cost of $132.4 million U.S. Dollars, and the AC-130U is produced at a cost of $190 million U.S. Dollars (fiscal 2001 constant dollars). Currently there are eight AC-130H and thirteen AC-130U aircraft in active duty service.

The AC-130 gunship series is one of the most expensive aircraft ever made due to its unique nature. In all deployments these aircraft are to be escorted by two F-15 Eagles each, flying combat air patrol due to the value of both the aircraft and its mission.

Civilian casualties and controversy

The use of gunships in general and the AC-130 in particular has been controversial at times. Although the onboard systems are effective at identifying targets, it is unable to reliably tell whether those targets are civilians or military. Incidents of attacks on demonstrations[1] and weddings[2] have been explained by celebratory firing of small-caliber weapons (e.g., AK-47s). Further, in combat areas such as Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, fighters tend to be mixed with, or are in fact a part of the local population, often claimed to be a deliberate use of civilians as "human shields". This intermingling of population with fighters means that attacks on military targets risk civilian casualties, since it is impossible to distinguish un-uniformed combatants from noncombatants.

The greater accuracy of attacks from the AC-130 has been claimed [3] to reduce accidental casualties compared to high-level bombing.

Specifications (AC-130U)

Template:Airtemp A new program has been initiated to upgrade the armament of existing AC-130s still in service. On the drawing board are plans to replace the GAU-12/U with a member of the Bushmaster family, whether it be an existing 25 mm M242 cannon or a newer Bushmaster II or Bushmaster III cannon. There are also plans to look into replacing the M102 howitzer with a breech loading 120 mm mortar of some make and model, and also to give the AC-130 a standoff capability using either the AGM-114 Hellfire or APKWS.

External links

• The history of the Gunship from the Spectre Association website.
• AC-130A aircraft names, tail numbers and current locations (if applicable), also from the Spectre Association website.
• Actual live-fire combat mission video (Afghanistan) (WMV format)
• Air Force Factsheet: the AC-130H/U GUNSHIP on which this article was originally based.
• FAS.org: AC-130H Spectre/AC-130U Spooky
• Executive summary from US investigation exonerating AC-130 crews who caused civilian casualties in Afghanistan

Related content

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