AF Special Operations Command receives first AC-130J

Air Force News Service ^ | July 31, 2015 | SSgt Marleah Robertson

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AFNS) -- The first AC-130J Ghostrider landed here July 29, making it Air Force Special Operations Command’s first AC-130J.

After completing the initial developmental test and evaluation by the 413th Flight Test Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, the aircraft will be flown by the 1st Special Operations Group Detachment 2 and maintained by the 1st Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron during its initial operational tests and evaluations at Hurlburt Field.

“Putting it through these tests will allow us to wring out the AC-130J in a simulated combat environment, instead of the more rigid flight profiles in formal developmental testing,” said Lt. Col. Brett DeAngelis, the 1st SOG Det. 2 commander. “Now that we know the equipment works when we turn it on, it’s our task to determine the best way to employ our newest asset.”

For most, the new gunship is the future.

“The AC-130J brings new technology to the table for AFSOC with more efficient engines, improved fuel efficiency and the ability to fly higher, further and quieter,” said Master Sgt. Michael Ezell, the 1st SOAMXS production superintendent. “Additionally, the modified weapons system it possesses is a precision strike package that was collected from the older models, such as the laser-guided bombs and AGM-176 Griffin bombs, and combined to give us all the capabilities of the AC-130W Stinger II and AC-130U Spooky all in one package.”

The AC-130J is a modified MC-130J Commando II, containing advanced features that will enable it to provide ground forces with an expeditionary, direct-fire platform that is persistent, suited for urban operations and capable of delivering precision munitions against ground targets.

“This is an exciting transition as we move the AC-130J from the test community to the operational community,” DeAngelis said. “While we still have initial operational testing in front of us to accomplish, it will now be done by aircrews selected for their combat expertise, instead of their testing background.”

A cadre of 60 aircrew and maintainers were selected by the Air Force Personnel Center to stand up the program, and there will be an additional 30 contractors to help work on the new gunship.

“We will be training on the airplane, getting all the qualifications and hands-on experience we need to be able to perform operational testing in order to give an exact picture of how this plane will operate in a real-world environment,” Ezell said. “Our focus right now is to learn how to maintain the aircraft and the operators will learn how to fly it and get ready for (initial operational test and evaluation), which should start later this year.”

Airmen were hand selected to work on the new AC-130J; they encompass a solid background and level of expertise on C-130Js. The maintenance team cadre came from Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, Dyess AFB, Texas, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, and Cannon AFB, New Mexico.

“As more AC-130Js are produced and delivered, the older models will slowly be retired,” DeAngelis said. “Until then, we’ll hold on to them while the AC-130J completes operational tests and the fleet becomes abundant in numbers.”

Operational testing is expected to be complete in spring 2016.

“Det. 2’s mission is simple; ‘Get it right,’” DeAngelis said. “And we have the right group of people to do just that.”

[xone]

LOL, yeah it would work there.

[Ace the Biker]

I can assure you that the “Ghostriders” saved my ass more than once.

[centurion316]

Me too.

[Cheerio]

AC 130 Gunship in action, "awsome footage". go to 3:55

US AC-130 Gunship 40mm & 105mm Cannon Firing Night Version

[mad_as_he$$]

Pretty sure all Spectres have been retired. To bad the Bushmaster did pass testing.

[Cheerio]

Not sure about status in Aug 2015 but you are probably correct that all Spectre and Spooky probably are all retired, to be replace by the new Ghostrider.

From wiki - In March 2011, the U.S. Air Force deployed two AC-130U gunships to take part in Operation Odyssey Dawn, the U.S. military intervention in Libya, which eventually came under NATO as Operation Unified Protector.

Former AC-130 gunship navigator Heithold, meanwhile, has plenty of ideas for the newest variant of that airplane, the AC-130J Ghostrider, now in testing. Two AC-130J’s have been built but the variant’s entry into service will be delayed, Heithold acknowledged, by his insistence that the Ghostrider carry the same 105mm cannon as older AC-130U Spooky and AC-130H Spectre gunships.

[archy]

“Ghostrider” is a mouthful....

My fiancée, a former USAF Warthawg avionics fixer, tells me the A-10 outfits are already referring to the C130J as the *goatFokker....*

Well, something pretty close to that, anyway....

[ken5050]

Thanks for that tidbit..and congrats on the upcoming nuptials. Bets of luck to you both. I hope your kids will recognize this country...

[archy]

A 105mm cannon? Dang! That's make the plane buck!?

Not as bad as you might think. It's a variation of the XM204 *soft recoil* type gun mount. Of which there's also a 155mm version, though the projectiles are larger, and fewer could be carried aboard an aircraft. The 105 is likely the way to go, even if the larger gun could be so mounted.

Interestingly, there was a concept a couple of years back to mount a pair of XM204s on either side, aboard a CH47C *$hi!hook* [officially, Chinook helicopter. Don't know how well flight firing tests for that one worked out, but it's interesting to see that the Army has been thinking of alternate possibilities just in case the USAF decides to drop the A10 altogether.

[archy]

Thanks for that tidbit..and congrats on the upcoming nuptials. Bets of luck to you both. I hope your kids will recognize this country...

I would not be a bit surprised if our kids, biological or adopted, are those who eventually sort out much of that unfamiliar to real American values, likely into something former Admiral Robert Anson Heinlein postulated around 1959, and which novel thereof remained on the USMC Commandant's recommended reading list for young new Marines until 2010 or so. It may still be on the Sgt Major of the USMC's list; see for yourself.

[Darksheare]

If memory serves, the 105mm howitzer they use is an M102 light towed, demounted from its usual home.

[archy]

If memory serves, the 105mm howitzer they use is an M102 light towed, demounted from its usual home.

Pretty much. As when the USAAF took the 75mm main gun from the M24 light tank of WWII and mounted it in the B25 [H-model, IIRC] twin-engine bomber, the Air Corps/Force concocts its own designations for things, GAU-this and GAU-that. [Gun, Aircraft Unit. It pays to have someone in the household who speaks USAF]

[Darksheare]

The barrel and workings of an M119 might work as well.

[archy]

The barrel and workings of an M119 might work as well.

Seems possible. The really big deal so far as aircraft use goes is working out a means of feeding ammo and a few added problems for fire control, like a 300-knot more or less forward airspeed to consider.

Some of the first AC47 and AC-119 simply stuck the guns out side windows and let fly, with a reflex gunsight from an A1 Skyraider sometimes mounted in the pilot and copilots' port and starboard windows; with three 7,62 General Electric M134 Gatling guns letting fly at circa 100 rounds per second each, that could be close enough for government work. When they reworked the AC119 *Dollar-Nineteen* into a gunship mounting a 20mm M61 Vulcan Gatling Cannon out the back ramp, and firing it as a *getaway gun* as they flew away from the bad guys after dropping flares and trying to look defensiveless, aimed fire took on new importance, lest they accidentaly hose the troops they were trying to support.

It was around this time that the term *friendly fire* took on a far more level of irony than previously.