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The AC-130 Gunship is an armed variant of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules. The primary missions of the United States Air Force's AC-130H Spectre and AC-130U Spooky gunships are close air support, air interdiction, and force protection. Missions in close air support are troops in contact, convoy escort and urban operations. Air interdiction missions are conducted against planned targets or targets of opportunity. Force protection missions include air base defense and facilities defense.
EquipmentThese heavily armed aircraft incorporate side-firing weapons integrated with sophisticated sensor, navigation and fire control systems to provide targeted firepower or area saturation whilst spending long periods flying over their target area, at night and in adverse weather. The sensor suite consists of a television sensor, infrared sensor and radar. These sensors allow the gunship to visually or electronically identify friendly ground forces and targets in most conditions. The AC-130U employs synthetic aperture radar for long-range target detection and identification. The gunship's navigational devices include the inertial navigation systems and global positioning system. The AC-130U employs technologies developed in the 1990s and can attack two targets simultaneously. It also has twice the munitions capacity of the AC-130H. HistoryThe AC-130 gunship has a combat history dating to the Vietnam War, where it replaced the AC-47. Gunships destroyed more than 10,000 trucks and were credited with many crucial close air support missions. During Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada in 1983, AC-130s suppressed enemy air defense systems and attacked ground forces enabling the successful assault of the Point Salines Airfield via airdrop and air land of friendly forces. The AC-130 aircrew earned the Lt. Gen. William H. Tunner Award for the mission. AC-130s also had a primary role during Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989 when they destroyed Panamanian Defense Force Headquarters and numerous command and control facilities. Aircrews earned the Mackay Trophy for the most meritorious flight of the year and the Tunner Award for their efforts. During Operation Desert Storm, AC-130s provided close air support and force protection (air base defense) for ground forces. Gunships were also used during operations Continue Hope and United Shield in Somalia, providing close air support for United Nations ground forces. More recently, gunships played a pivotal role in supporting the NATO mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The AC-130H provided air interdiction against key targets in the Sarajevo area. In 1997, gunships were diverted from Italy to provide combat air support for U.S. and allied ground troops during the evacuation of American noncombatants in Albania. Gunships also were part of the buildup of U.S. forces in 1998 to convince Iraq to comply with U.N. weapons inspections. Gunships were later used in the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 Iraq War. Current deploymentThe AC-130H is produced at a cost of $132.4 million US Dollars and the AC-130U is produced at a cost of $190 million US Dollars (fiscal 2001 constant dollars). Currently there are eight AC-130H and thirteen AC-130U aircraft in Active Duty service. No aircraft of either type is on reserve or National Guard duty. Civilian casualties and controversyThe use of gunships in general and the AC-130 in particular has been controversial at times. Although the on-board systems are effective at identifying targets, it is unable to reliably tell whether those targets are civilians or military. Incidents of attacks on, for example "weddings", have been explained by celebratory firing of small calibre weapons (e.g. AK-47s in Afganistan[1] (http://foi.missouri.edu/whistleblowing/uswarned.html)). Further, in combat areas such as Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, fighters tend to be mixed with the local population either since they are part of that population or, according to American Military sources, because they use the local population as "human shields". This intermingling of population with fighters means that air attack by the AC-130 on a "military targets" risks civilian casualties since it is "not possible to distinguish" combatants from non-combatants. The greater accuracy of attacks from the AC-130 has been claimed [2] (http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1019/p3s1-usmi.htm) to reduce accidental casualties compared to high level bombing. See alsoReferences
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