There are over 20 types of AC-130 on 'active duty', according to the US Air Force. ' This configuration added four 20 mm Vulcan.

The gunship was developed to enhance the precision firepower of the USAF during the. The aircraft is primarily intended for close air support and aerial interdiction missions.

It is a modified variant of the MC-130W Dragon Spear aircraft. The other recent loss was in Somalia when, it is thought, a round exploded in one of the plane's cannons. In January 1967, the Air Staff directed Systems Command to configure a C - 130 for testing as ' Gunship II. AC-130W Stinger II is a multi-mission gunship developed by Lockheed Martin for the US Air Force (USAF). There are also heat shields under the engines to try to mask them from heat-seeking missiles.Įven so, one AC-130 was shot down in Iraq in 1991 by a surface-to-air missile. The weapon won’t be powerful enough to kill, but it will give the gunship less than lethal options for dealing with. It does have a system that drops chaff and flares to counter radar and infra-red guided missiles. The Air Force will test a 60 kilowatt laser on an AC-130 gunship in 2022.

The aircraft has more than a dozen crew: Pilot, co-pilot, navigator, fire control officer, electronic warfare officer, flight engineer, operators for its TV camera and infra-red detection set, a loadmaster, and four or five 'gunners' - who reload the weapons which are normally controlled from the flight deck.Īlthough regarded as a highly successful machine - used most recently in support of operations in Panama, Grenada, the Gulf War, Bosnia and Afghanistan - its slowness and typical low operating altitude make it vulnerable to ground fire.

Air force c 130 gunship