Air Force's ?Spooky? Gunships? Have Retired

serf

It's been a long run for the platform. I think snoopy or puff the magic dragon was the name for the first flying gunships with similar duties.

serf

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a28353173/spooky-gunship-retirement/?source=nl&utm_source=nl_pop&utm_medium=email&date=071219&src=nl&utm_campaign=17442611

The AC-130U ?Spooky? first entered service in 1995 and is a third-generation gunship. The aircraft was fitted with multispectral television sensors, high-definition infrared sensors, and radar, allowing the 13-man crew to pinpoint enemy forces and engage them with autocannons and a 105-millimeter howitzer.

The gunship concept dates to the Vietnam War, when World War II-era C-47 transports were fitted with side-firing Gatling guns to provide close air support for remote outposts, as well as rain bullets on enemy convoys navigating the Ho Chi Minh trail.

pulsarnc

Have been told by some vets that Spooky could put a round every square foot in a football field in one pass . One bad * platform

buschmaster

why do I keep thinking 1995 was only 5 years ago

Wild Turkey

The early gunships were "area" fire weapons. Ground guys would tell them where they wanted the ordnance delivered and the Air Force would DELIVER!!!!

Now that we've shifted from things made by and for the guys on the ground they have the new series of C-130's with all kind of precision sights and weapons and have to ask for clearance to engage many times.

Watch the videos on youtube -- listen to the guys describing the targets they have and then having to wait for clearance while the targets are scattering or getting places where upper echelons are too worried about "collateral" damage.

Or is it another case of the brass building a "gold plated" weapon system based on "Gee Whiz" ideas instead of feedback from the ground troops. :roll:

Rocky Raab

What you describe is neither the weapon system's nor the crew's issue. The problem is that their Rules of Engagement are ludicrously rigid. Even in Vietnam, we had to get permission from as far down as a village chieftain (through who knows how many layers of bosses) before we could engage a plainly visible but fleeing enemy. There were precious few Free Fire Areas where anything was fair game. And since the enemy had people within our system who relayed everything, the enemy simply avoided those Free Fire Areas.

Anyway, if they have retired the AC-130s, it is because the low altitude environment is no longer survivable for them. Big, slow and low is a death sentence.

Sam06

Most of that article is garbage.

1. They are called a Specter Gunship not a spooky. They haven't been a spooky since the 80's

2. They are being replaced with a better platform the Ghostrider.

The reason for the change is during the war for the last 19 years there have been major improvements in weapons optics and new tactics have been developed. Plus the C-130 has changed a whole lot since 2005.

I have been supported by Specter many a time and its very nice to have him around. I am sure Ghostrider will continue.

Rocky Raab

Thanks for the clarification, Sam. I assume the Ghostrider will have a robust suite of anti-missile defenses, because they'll need them.

navc130

Your headline is misleading. The E or H Model (U Model for gunship configuration) is being replaced by the J Model. It will still be a C-130 gunship as reported in the article.

babun

Any 92 pound woman with a 9K34 Strela-3 ground to air missile can take out any low flying slow aircraft before it can deliver it's strike, no matter how badasss it is.

"Big, slow and low is a death sentence."

Is the truth................

Wrangler

buschmaster wrote:

why do I keep thinking 1995 was only 5 years ago

I have the same problem.

yoshmyster

So I guess they'll be sold off as surplus to "friendly" countries and then used against us? A-10 and now this. The US needs to make long range missiles that could be sent from here to Iran within 100 yard+/- so no more boots or planes overhead. Better yet Trump needs to bring back Reagan's "Star Wars" with "lazers" (doing Dr. Evil air quotes ).

navc130

Yes, a C-130 Navigator - 10,000 flying hours, most in the E Model. Stationed at Charleston and McGuire 1963 to 1968, then stayed in the Air force Reserve at Selfridge ANGB, Mich.

Rocky Raab

Yosh, you vastly underestimate our ability. Almost 40 years ago (I can tell this now) I sat in at a classified ICBM briefing to a multi-star general. The general asked the briefer, "How accurate is this ***** guidance package?" And the briefer said, "General, if you wanted to hit a semi-trailer in Red Square, I'd have to ask you if you wanted the front bumper or the back."

shilowar

Sam06 wrote:

Most of that article is garbage.

1. They are called a Specter Gunship not a spooky. They haven't been a spooky since the 80's

2. They are being replaced with a better platform the Ghostrider.

The reason for the change is during the war for the last 19 years there have been major improvements in weapons optics and new tactics have been developed. Plus the C-130 has changed a whole lot since 2005.

I have been supported by Specter many a time and its very nice to have him around. I am sure Ghostrider will continue.

AC-130J....as you said! Two big guns hanging out of that *!!!
https://taskandpurpose.com/air-force-ac-130j-ghostrider-combat-mission-afghanistan

Wrangler

https://taskandpurpose.com/air-force-ac-130j-ghostrider-combat-mission-afghanistan



The Air Force's newest gunship is officially here to f*ck up your day

JARED KELLER July 12, 2019 at 11:17 AM

Brace yourselves: the Air Force's newest gunship is officially on the prowl downrange.

The AC-130J Ghostrider gunship flew its first combat mission in Afghanistan in late June, deploying to relieve the AC-130U Spooky aircraft following the latter's final combat sorties, an Air Force Special Operations Command spokesman confirmed to The War Zone on Wednesday.

According to the Northwest Florida Daily News, which first reported the news of the combat deployment, the mission took place "just days before" the June 28 change of command ceremony for new AFSOC commander Air Force Lt. Gen. James Slife at Hurlburt Field in Florida.

According to The War Zone, the 73rd Special Operation Squadron at Hurburt is currently flying the Ghostrider in Afghanistan, likely in a close air support or armed overwatch.

Described by AFSOC officials as "the ultimate battle plane" and "a bomb truck with guns on it," the Ghostrider comes with the standard 105mm cannon and an additional 30mm GAU-23/A cannon, along with wing pylons designed for both GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.

The 30mm cannon in particular "almost like a sniper rifle. ... It's that precise, it can pretty much hit first shot, first kill," then-1st SOW commander Col. Tom Palenske told Millitary.com back in 2017, adding that the Ghostrider is "going to [be] the most lethal, with the most loiter time, probably the most requested weapons system from ground forces in the history of warfare."

But while the Ghostrider first hit initial operational capacity back in September 2017, a January 2018 assessment from the Pentagon's Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation found that the Ghostrider's fire control systems "performed inconsistently when accounting for changing ballistic conditions" like shifts in altitude and ambient wind, requiring frequent in-flight adjustments to ensure the weapons' accuracy.

Beyond that, the 30mm cannon's full rate of fire of 200 rounds a minute caused the cannon to shake so violently that the fire control system's automatic safeguards kicked in, forcing the operator to again recalibrate the gun and mount to get the system moving again, according to the Pentagon OT&E assessment.

Those problems have since been addressed: According to the Pentagon's 2019 assessment, the Ghostrider systems were officially "effective and suitable" for CAS and air interdiction missions. The following the March, the 4th Special Operations Squadron,1st Special Operations Wing received an upgraded version of the new gunship with "major improvement in software and avionics technology."

While details are scant on the nature of the Ghostrider's first combat mission, U.S. special operations forces have remained heavily in the fight in Afghanistan in recent years. Unfortunately, there's word yet on whether they can expect future Ghostrider support to include frickin' laser beams.

Mobuck

"Have been told by some vets that Spooky could put a round every square foot in a football field in one pass . One bad * platform"

OMG how we did love the sound. In most cases, you only heard the sound if you weren't the target.