Lockheed C-130 Hercules

Bibliography

* Frawley, Gerard. The International Directory of Military Aircraft, 2002/03. Fyshwick, ACT, Australia: Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd, 2002. ISBN 1-875671-55-2.

Airman 1st Class Marshall Dils guides an EC-130H Compass Call aircraft out of its parking spot and down the taxiway as it prepares to fly a training mission in support of Empire Challenge 10, a joint and coalition intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance interoperability demonstration from July 26 to Aug. 13, 2010, staged primarily from Fort Huachuca, Ariz. Airman Dils is a member of the 755th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.
(U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Jerilyn Quintanilla)

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External links

* C-130 Hercules product page and C-130J brochure on Lockheed Martin web site
* USAF C-130 Hercules fact sheet
* C-130J-30 Specification Book on CC-130j.ca
* C-130 page on GlobalSecurity.org
* HerkyBirds.com 9000+ C-130 images

Retour à la page C-130 de Wikipedia.en

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Variants

AC-130A/E/H/U Spectre/Spooky gunship

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The Lockheed AC-130 gunship is a heavily-armed ground-attack aircraft.

The basic airframe is manufactured by Lockheed, and Boeing is responsible for the conversion into a gunship and for aircraft support.

It is a variant of the C-130 Hercules transport plane.
The AC-130A Gunship II superseded the AC-47 Gunship I in the Vietnam War.

The AC-130 gunship's primary missions are close air support, air interdiction and force protection. These heavily armed aircraft incorporate side-firing weapons integrated with sophisticated sensor, navigation and fire control systems to provide surgical firepower or area saturation during extended loiter periods, at night and in adverse weather.
(U.S. Air Force photo)

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The gunship's sole user is the United States Air Force, which uses AC-130H Spectre and AC-130U Spooky variants.

The AC-130 is powered by four Allison T56-A-15 turboprops and is armed with 25 mm Gatling-type cannons, 40 mm cannons, and a 105 mm howitzer.
It has a standard crew of twelve or thirteen airmen, including five officers (two pilots, a navigator, an electronic warfare officer and a fire control officer) and enlisted personnel (flight engineer, sensor operators, and aerial gunners).

The US Air Force uses the AC-130 gunships for close air support, air interdiction, air missions, bombing raid, and force protection.
Close air support roles include supporting ground troops, escorting convoys, and flying urban operations. Air interdiction missions are conducted against planned targets and targets of opportunity.
Force protection missions include defending air bases and other facilities.

Currently, AC-130U Spooky model gunships are stationed at Hurlburt Field in Northwest Florida and the AC-130H models are stationed at Cannon AFB, New Mexico.

The gunship squadrons are part of the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), a component of United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM).

Development

The C-130 Hercules was selected to replace the AC-47 Spooky Gunship I used during the Vietnam War, to improve gunship endurance capabilities and increase capacity to carry munitions.

In 1967, JC-130A USAF 54-1626 was selected for conversion into the prototype AC-130A gunship. The modifications were done that year at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, by the Aeronautical Systems Division.

A direct view night vision telescope was installed in the forward door, an early forward looking infrared (FLIR) in the forward part of the left wheel well, and Gatling guns fixed facing down and aft along the left side.

The analog fire control computer prototype was handcrafted by RAF Wing Commander Tom Pinkerton at the USAF Avionics Laboratory. Flight testing of the prototype was subsequently performed primarily at Eglin Air Force Base, followed by further testing and modifications. By September 1967, the aircraft was certified ready for combat testing and was flown to Nha Trang Air Base, South Vietnam for a 90 day test program.

The AC-130 was later supplemented by the AC-119 Shadow Gunship III, which later proved underpowered.

Seven more aircraft were converted to the "Plain Jane" configuration like the AC-130 prototype in 1968,[5] and one aircraft received the "Surprise Package" equipment the next year.

Surprise Package included the latest 20 mm Gatling-style cannons and 40 mm Bofors cannon, but no 7.62 mm close support armament.
Surprise Package served as a test bed for the avionic systems and armament for the AC-130E.

In 1970, an additional 10 AC-130As were acquired under the "Pave Pronto" project.[7] In the summer of 1971, Surprise Package equipped AC-130s were converted to the Pave Pronto configuration, and assumed its new nickname, Thor. Conversion of C-130Es into AC-130Es for the "PAVE Spectre" project followed.[8][9]

Regardless of their project names, the aircraft were more commonly referred to by the Squadron's call sign: Spectre.

AC-130 A Pave Pontro

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AC-130 E, No 53-3129, Gunship

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Recent and planned upgrades

In 2007, AFSOC initiated a program to upgrade the armament of existing AC-130s still in service. The test program planned for the 25 mm GAU-12/U and 40 mm Bofors cannon on the AC-130U gunships to be replaced with two 30 mm Mk 44 Bushmaster II cannons.[10] In 2007, the Air Force modified four AC-130U gunships as test platforms for the Bushmasters.

These were referred to as AC-130U Plus 4 or AC-130U+4. However, AFSOC canceled its plans to install the new cannons on its fleet of AC-130Us. It has since removed the guns and re-installed the original 40 mm cannons and returned the planes to combat duties.

Brig. Gen. Bradley A. Heithold, AFSOC's director of plans, programs, requirements and assessments, said on 11 August 2008 that the effort was canceled due to problems with the Bushmaster's accuracy in tests "at the altitude we were employing it".

There were also schedule considerations that drove the decision, he said.

AC-130 U

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There are also plans to possibly replace the M102 howitzer with a breech-loading 120 mm mortar, and to give the AC-130 a standoff capability using either the AGM-114 Hellfire missile, the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (based on the Hydra 70 rocket), or the Viper Strike glide bomb.