Posted on 03/28/2017 7:38:50 PM PDT by nralife
HURLBURT FIELD, FLORIDA – In the not-too-distant future, when ground troops call for close-air support, the ‘Ghostrider’ and its deadly arsenal could come to their rescue.
The AC-130J Ghostrider is set to be the most heavily-armed gunship in history, bristling with 30mm and 105mm cannons, AGM-176A Griffin missiles, and the ability to carry Hellfire missiles and GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs.
But that’s not all.
Some day in the future, the Ghostrider could even be equipped with a high-energy laser.
That’s right. Lasers.
When it hits the battlefield in a few short years, the Ghostrider will be the most heavily armed gunship in history – a badass plane providing close-air support to U.S. troops on the ground and delivering withering firepower that will send enemies running for the hills.
Aircraft such as the F-35 and A-10 may be the focus of headlines, arguments on Capitol Hill between brass and lawmakers, and viral videos pulsing with hard rock. But despite drawing a fraction of the attention, the AC-130 and all its variants have been workhorses of the past 15 years of war.
They rained down fire on the Taliban and al-Qaida during the early days of the Afghanistan war, and fought in many more battles there over the years. They supported ground troops during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, as well as in subsequent clashes, such as the battles of Fallujah. They conducted raids on Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi’s forces during the civil war there in 2011. And as the military’s focus gradually turned to the Islamic State militant group, the AC-130’s guns were trained on ISIS fighters, vehicles and oil trucks in places such as Raqqa, Syria.
(Excerpt) Read more at airforcetimes.com ...
You are welcome, and I really appreciate it.
Semper Fi!
So far as we know. Similar to known species of fungi; the deleterious unknown ones are what scares mycologists.
I don’t know about that. I saw one at Wright Patterson with a whole lot of little camel symbols on the side of it, lol.
What a beast!!
Ghostrider, Ghostrider, this is Caisson 71, Fire Mission, over.
Caisson71, this is Ghostrider, send your mission............
.......would have loved to have done that in Nam.
There is no such thing as indirect fire with a laser. It is only line of sight. Anything over the horizon is out of reach.
Now there were/are programs with space based mirrors to redirect laser beams to distant targets, but the mirror must be in the right place at the right time. A space based laser is easier in some ways, but getting the energy into space in the first place is difficult, and stabilizing a satellite with a high-energy laser firing on board is not a trivial exercise. Plus, there is a treaty which forbids it.
Lazers as ground attack weapons don’t make a lot of sense. Anti-missle and anti-air but not ground targets. The lasers are not strong enough to be useful. However a rail gun on the other hand... Could you imagine the amount of damage and plane based rail gun would do?
What i could see is the effects of millions of pulses of at least 10 watt lasers, which will burn a retina instantly, like the ultimate gatling gun. While a single beam could be deadly i think if you can build an array that has thousands of movable emitters you can counter drone swarms.
Drone swarms is the hot selling ticket right now. Orchestrated drones that can split up to avoid even a close in weapon chain gun.
Allah Owie!
...yeah, the camels replaced the water buffalo
C-119?
The lasers will be one more tool in the kit. The weakness of the AC-130 platform is MANPADS. As far back as the Gulf War we were losing gunships to shoulder-fired SAMS. The task has been to give the AC-130 the ability to stand further away from the target, beyond the slant range of the portable stuff. Lasers will help with that. I’m guessing the 105 will be deleted when that happens (but that’s just a guess).
Rear-view mirrors?
It’s interesting that we yell “hurrah” for these advanced weapon designs that are supposed to be used against our enemies.
Prophecy says this technology will fall right into the Beast of Revelation’s hands and will be used against anyone who opposes him.
Same goes with the Surveillance/Police State Technology of Google/Microsoft/Facebook/Apple.
AC-130U:
C-17s have had an anti-MANPADS system for more than a decade. They were pointed out to me on a C-17 in 2005. Small lasers that burned out / degraded the seeker head. I’m sure this thing is loaded with them.
Here:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/systems/laircm.htm
Bkmk
Douglas AC-47D Spooky aka "Puff, the Magic Dragon"
We had one save my company one night in March of 1969. In 1977 I flew in a USMC plain transport version of the C-117, IIRC, back from Manila to Subic.
A real workhorse!
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