Everything about Ac-130u Spooky totally explained
The
AC-130 gunship is a heavily-armed ground attack airplane. The basic airframe is manufactured by
Lockheed, and
Boeing is responsible for the conversion into a gunship and for aircraft support. It is a variant of the
C-130 Hercules transport plane. The AC-130 Gunship II superseded the
AC-47 Gunship I in
Vietnam.
The gunship's sole user is the
United States Air Force, which uses
AC-130H Spectre and
AC-130U Spooky variants. The AC-130 is powered by four
turboprops and has an armament ranging from 20 mm
Gatling guns to 105 mm
howitzers. It has a standard crew of twelve or thirteen Airmen, including five officers (two pilots, a navigator, an electronic warfare officer and a fire control officer) and enlisted personnel (flight engineer, electronics operators and aerial gunners).
The US Air Force uses the AC-130 gunships for
close air support,
air interdiction, and force protection. Close air support roles include supporting ground troops, escorting
convoys, and flying urban operations. Air interdiction missions are conducted against planned targets and targets of opportunity. Force protection missions include
defending air bases and other military facilities. The gunship squadrons are part of the
Air Force Special Operations Command and are all assigned to AFSOC at Hurlburt Field in Northwest Florida.
Development
The C-130 Hercules was selected to replace the
AC-47 Gunship I (known as Spooky or Puff the Magic Dragon) during the Vietnam War, due to its ability to carry more and heavier weapons, and better endurance.
In
1967, JC-130A USAF 54-1626 was selected for conversion into the prototype AC-130A gunship. The modifications were done that year at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, by the Aeronautical Systems Division. A direct view night vision telescope was installed in the forward door, an early forward looking infrared (FLIR) in the forward part of the left wheel well, and Gatling guns fixed mounted facing down and aft along the left side. The analog fire control computer prototype was handcrafted by RAF Wing Commander Tom Pinkerton at the USAF Avionics Laboratory. Then flight testing of the prototype was performed primarily at
Eglin Air Force Base, followed by further testing and modifications. By September
1967, the aircraft was certified ready for combat testing and was flown to Nha Trang Air Base, South Vietnam for a 90 day test program. Following these successes, a few more AC-130As were constructed using similar equipment and manufactured versions of the analog computer. The original 54-1626 Gunship is displayed at the USAF Museum.
The AC-130 was supplemented by the
AC-119 Shadow Gunship III during this time, which would prove underpowered with warload. In
1970, an additional dozen AC-130As were acquired under the "
Pave Pronto" project. Regardless of their project names, the aircraft were more commonly referred to by the Squadron's call sign of Spectre.
Design
These heavily-armed aircraft incorporate side-firing weapons integrated with sophisticated sensors, navigation and fire control systems to provide precision firepower or area-saturation fire with its varied armament. The AC-130 can spend 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 weather 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.
By December
1968 most AC-130s were flown under F-4 escort from the 479th TFS (Tactical Fighter Squadron), normally three Phantoms per Gunship. In late
1969, under the code name of "Surprise Package", 56-0490 arrived with solid state laser illuminated low light level TV with a companion YAG laser designator, an improved forward looking infrared (FLIR) sensor, video recording for TV and FLIR, inertial navigation, and a prototype digital fire control computer. Surprise Package was equipped with the latest 20 mm Gatling guns and 40 mm Bofors cannon, but no 7.62 mm close support armament. Surprise Package was refitted with upgraded similar equipment in the summer of
1970, and then redeployed to Ubon RTAFB. Surprise Package served as a test bed for the avionic systems and armament for the AC-130E. In the summer of
1971, Surprise Package was converted to the Pave Pronto configuration, and assumed its new nickname, Thor.
The first AC-130A loss of the war, 54-1629, named
The Arbitrator, occurred on
24 May 1969 while on armed reconnaissance (a.k.a. "truck hunting") over Southern Laos. The aircraft, piloted by Lieutenant Colonel W. H Schwehm, was hit by 57 mm
AAA while orbiting at over 6,000 feet. LTC Schwehm had ordered his crewmen to bail out as they approached the airfield, while he attempted an emergency landing at his Ubon Air Base. As the battle damaged Spectre touched down, the right undercarriage collapsed and the Gunship veered off the runway into an obstacle, catching fire. Eleven crewmen survived, but Staff Sergeants Cecil Taylor and Jack W. Troglen were killed in action.
The second AC-130A Spectre, 54-1625, named
War Lord, was lost on
22 April,
1970 while truck hunting along the southern portion of the
Ho Chi Minh trail, in Laos. While strafing the trucks, the AC-130 Gunship, from the 16th SOS, was hit by 37 mm
AAA, catching fire. Ten crewmen were listed as KIA. Staff Sergeant E. Fields was the only survivor.
The military has used gunships during Operations
Restore Hope and
United Shield in
Somalia, in the
NATO mission in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, and in the
1997 evacuation of American noncombatants in
Albania. On
15 March,
1994 over the
Indian Ocean (off the coast of
Kenya, near the town of
Malindi), aircraft 69-6576 (then known as
Predator but previously called both
Bad Company and
Widow Maker) was lost, taking the lives of eight crewmembers. Gunships also were part of the buildup of U.S. forces in
1998 to convince
Iraq to comply with U.N. weapons inspections. The United States later used gunships during the
2001 invasion of Afghanistan, and the
Iraq War. In
2007 US Special Operations forces used the AC-130 in attacks on suspected
al-Qaeda militants in
Somalia.
The AC-130 has the distinction of never having a base under its protection lost to the enemy.
Current aircraft
The AC-130H is produced at a cost of US$132.4 million, and the AC-130U is produced at a cost of US$190 million (fiscal
2001 constant dollars). Currently there are eight AC-130H and seventeen AC-130U aircraft in active duty service.
Operators
Armament
AC-130A Project Gunship II
4× 7.62 mm GAU-2/A miniguns
4× 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon
AC-130A Surprise Package, Pave Pronto, AC-130E Pave Spectre
4× 7.62 mm GAU-2/A miniguns
2× 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon
2× 40 mm (1.58 in) L/60 Bofors cannon
AC-130E Pave Aegis and AC-130H Pave Spectre II
2× 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon
1× 40 mm L60 Bofors cannon
1× 105 mm (4.13 in) M102 howitzer
AC-130U "Spooky" Gunship
1× 25 mm (0.984 in) 5-Barrel GAU-12/U Equalizer gatling gun
1× 40 mm L60 Bofors cannon
1× 105 mm M102 howitzer
or
2× 30 mm Bushmaster II cannon
1× 105 mm M102 howitzer
Upgrades
A new program has been initiated to upgrade the armament of existing AC-130s still in service. The 25 mm GAU-12/U and 40 mm Bofors are to be replaced with two Mk 44 Bushmaster II 30 mm cannons. The first aircraft is completed, with three more to join the fleet by December 2007, and fleetwide modifications complete by 2010. There are also plans to look into replacing the M102 howitzer with a breech-loading 120 mm mortar, and to give the AC-130 a standoff capability using either the AGM-114 Hellfire missile, the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (based on the Hydra 70 rocket), or the Viper Strike glide bomb.
The Air Force has decided to use the Bushmaster for two reasons. First, the 40 mm Bofors gun is becoming progressively more difficult to maintain, with spare parts becoming more difficult to locate. Second, the 25 mm cannon, while a useful weapon, lacks ammunition with an air-burst capability and suffers from too much scatter; procuring the most desirable types of ammunition for the 30 mm Bushmaster is much easier.
Popular culture
The AC-130 was prominently featured in the 2007 movie "Transformers". It was one of the instances in which the Department of Defense and Hollywood cooperated with each other for the production of a film for the interests and benefits of each party.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ac-130u Spooky'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://lockheed_ac-130.totallyexplained.com">Lockheed AC-130 Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
