Cannon Fire Burst From AC-130 Can Lay Waste to a City Block

The AC-130H gunship, one of which was lost Thursday with its 14-member crew behind Iraqi lines, is among the most formidable attack aircraft in the Air Force arsenal--capable of laying waste to a city block with a burst of cannon fire.

It has been used in Panama, Grenada and Vietnam, according to Lt. Col. Fran Tunstall, an Air Force spokesman.

The gunship is an adaptation of a venerable old workhorse, the C-130 Hercules transport, which has been flying since 1955 and is expected to be part of the Air Force into the next century.

Heavily armed with machine guns mounted on one side, the giant aircraft, nicknamed Spectre in Vietnam, is capable of flying a variety of missions, including ground troop support, search and rescue and armed reconnaissance.

One model can fire up to 17,000 rounds per minute as it circles its target. As the pilot aims and fires the forward machine guns by changing the angle of the gunship, a crew member must shovel the ejected brass casings into a heavy bag. Otherwise, the spent shells would be ankle high within minutes.

The plane’s largest gun is mounted toward the rear of the aircraft and fired by a crew member using an infrared aiming device. The model that was lost over Kuwait was armed with two 20-millimeter Vulcan cannons, one 40-millimeter Bofors cannon and a 105-millimeter howitzer.

With its sophisticated sensors and long flying range, the AC-130 has also seen peacetime duty in search-and-rescue operations. It proved itself in 1973, when a commercial airliner crashed near Miami, and an AC-130 circled the area for hours.

With its two-kilowatt searchlights, it located air crash victims in the dark Everglades and directed rescue workers to them.

DOWNED PLANE

A U.S. plane shot down in the war against Iraq was identified as an AC-130H, a gunship version of the four-engine C-130 transport, carrying 14. A look at the craft:

C-130 is built by Lockheed Corp., but standard cargo version is converted into AC-130H by Rockwell International Corp. under a Defense Department contract.

Modified aircraft can be used for special missions ranging from search and rescue to reconnaissance and supporting ground troops with cannon fire.

The craft, a heavily armed but vulnerable Vietnam-era weapon, is armed with a 105-mm cannon and heavy machine guns. Uses sophisticated electronics and laser sights for night attacks.

The AC-130H version typically carries a crew of 14.

Plane is believed to be largest allied craft lost in war; others downed so far have been smaller planes such as fighters and fighter-bombers.

Source: Associated Press, Jane’s Radar and Electronic Warfare Systems.