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 ...
Let’s station these on our southern border for the ultimate zot in border security.
Color me skeptical. The comments after the story voice some objections, and if Lockheed Martin has anything to do with it, it will probably cost 20 times more than estimated, take 10 years longer to complete, and still won’t work.
The Defense Department can’t account for 10 trillion dollars. How about we get some control over this before buying yet another expensive trinket? The procurement process for defense has become so politicized that it’s hard to support the idea that the military gets the weapons and equipment it really needs.
The most impressive to me is the array of SENSORS.
“Don’t run - you’ll only die tired”
When they are perfected, high energy lasers will make all fired projectiles obsolete. Wide array lasers are in the pipeline, something the military is working on but will not admit.
>>Color me skeptical. The comments after the story voice some objections, and if Lockheed Martin has anything to do with it, it will probably cost 20 times more than estimated, take 10 years longer to complete, and still won’t work.<<
The AC130 is a proven frame with a track record that would impress even the staunches skeptic.
This is taking what they have and kicking it up a BUNCH of motches.
We might not be able to create new aircraft anymore compared to the Golden Era of the F-15, 16, 18, etc. But we seem to be able to REALLY do a lot with the tried and true.
I counted 17 sensors and blisters in your pic at #3. Likely more.
I have some insider info.
AC130 LJ Edition with Laser Turret:
If they just had one available in Mogadishu, one available for Benghazi. Seems Democrats really don’t like things like this.
I live around 50 miles from Hurlburt. I never see any planes from Eglin or Tyndall but for some reason I regularly hear an AC-130 circling overhead in the night.
Now that I think about it, I haven’t heard one for a while.
Two points:
It still needs a chin turret for local defense and so the cockpit crew can get in on the action.
And I thought at the time that Lockheed missed the boat when they didn’t come up with modifications to the L-100 design that would have put it in the running for the P-3 replacement. It would have been far more suitable than a 737.
Vundebar...
...The Defense Department can’t account for 10 trillion dollars....
Obama’s payoff to Iran had to come from some slush the??nd, somewhere. Who knows what else he did??
I would rather be the fire control officer in back than the pilot in front. He just “drives you” to your work place.
In reality the C130 Gunship is a magnificent beast of destruction once the fighter jocks have established air and ground supremacy against Sams and antiaircraft fire. If Specter comes for you do not run, you will just die tired.
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