ORLANDO, Fla. — The Air Force's new gunship is going to be a lot more powerful.
The AC-130J Ghostrider , the Air Force's replacement to its current AC-130 gunship fleet, is currently in testing and expected to replace the service's current gunship fleet of AC-130H Spectres, AC-130W Stinger IIs and AC-130U Spookys. The new version already was planned to be outfitted with a precision strike package. But that wasn't enough for Air Force Special Operations Command.
"I want to have two guns," AFSOC Commander Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold told reporters Thursday today at the Air Force Association Air Warfare Symposium here in Orlando.
AFSOC plans is now planning to add a 105mm cannon to the rear of the plane., That is in addition to the weapons the aircraft it is already slated to carry — dual electro-optical infrared sensors, a 30mm cannon, AGM-176A Griffin missiles, all-weather synthetic aperture radar and GBU-30 small diameter bombs. The package was developed to let the gunship identifyied friendlies and targets at night and in adverse weather.
The command is already testing the first version of the Ghostrider, without the gun. The second version is currently being built without the cannon;, and the third to follow will be the first to be built with the 105mm cannon, which is in use on the U version of the plane. The first two will be retrofit with the cannon.
With the addition of the cannon, the AC-130J will carry the largest weapons load that the Air Force's gunships have had.
"We've got a bomb truck with guns on it now," Heithold said, calling the AC-130J "the ultimate battle plane."
The Air Force will fly 37 AC-130Js and expects , expected to field the first operational version in two to three years — following testing, and any changes required to address issues that will arise during when the testing occurs. The service has eight AC-130Hs, 12 AC-130Ws and 17 AC-130Us.
The Air Force is retiring the eight H models, and will reduce to a floor of 26 W and U versions after two Spookys are retired as a result of the fiscal 2015 budget.
