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US
deploys airborne killing machine
BY MICHAEL EVANS, DEFENCE EDITOR
THE TIMES (UK)
OCTOBER 17, 2001
PSD To HTML conversion is important to webmasters because they cannot use the PSD file as it is for their web pages. if you need PSD To HTML conversion service save yourself some time, effort and money and send it in to the professionals. THE debut of the American
special operations AC130 gunship in Operation Enduring Freedom points the
way to a new phase in the coalition strikes on Taleban forces. The gunship
is one of the most formidable airborne killing machines available to the
US forces operating in Afghanistan. Although it is slow and operates at a
relatively low altitude, the gunship, based on the Lockheed Hercules
transport aircraft, has a deadly array of weaponry which can devastate an
area the size of a football pitch.
First used in the Vietnam War,
the turboprop gunship has been modified and now comes in two forms, the
AC130H, known as the Spectre, and the AC130U Spooky. During the Vietnam
War they destroyed more than 10,000 trucks, and were credited with
numerous life-saving close-air support operations.
Since then, they have seen
action in Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada in 1983, Operation Just Cause
in Panama in 1989, Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait and Iraq in 1991 and
Operation Restore Hope in Somalia in 1994. They also operated in the
Balkans.
At the heart of their arsenal
is an M102 105mm cannon which, in the Spooky version, can fire six to ten
rounds a minute. The AC130U Spooky also has a 25mm Gatling gun which can
fire 1,800 rounds a minute.
Paul Jackson, the editor of
Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft, said the gunship was able to direct a
withering amount of fire on a single target by flying in a circle, its
weapons firing as the aircraft banks, normally at an altitude of about
2,000ft or more.
The Spectre version has two
20mm Vulcan cannons, one 40mm Bofors cannon and one 105mm cannon. The
Spooky has a 25mm Gatling gun, one 40mm Bofors cannon, which can fire 200
shots a minute, and one 105mm cannon. Each has a crew of about 14.
The Spectre cost about £30
million each and there are eight left in service. There are 13 of the
newer Spooky, each costing about £48 million, assigned to the 16th
Special Operations Squadron, based at Hurlburt Field, in Florida.
These side-firing gunships have
proved vulnerable to ground attack in the past. Eight AC130s have been
lost in combat, six of them during operations over Vietnam and Laos in the
1970s. The two other AC130 gunships were lost in combat in Kuwait and
Somalia, the latter in 1994 when the 105mm cannon exploded while the
aircraft was airborne.
The AC130U Spooky, which is
commonly called the “U-Boat”, is described as the most complex
aircraft weapon system in the world, with more than 609,000 lines of
software code in its mission computers and avionics systems.
The prototype made its first
flight in December 1990. Based on Lockheed airframes and modified by
Boeing, it has advanced sensors, a new fire-control radar system, global
positioning system navigation, special electronic counter-measures and an
infra-red warning receiver, enabling the crew to fly at night and in
adverse weather. They also have the ability to loiter for long periods
over targets.
With its fire control system,
developed by Hughes, the gunship can engage two separate targets
simultaneously up to three quarters of a mile away, using two different
guns. No other ground attack aircraft in the world has this capability.
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