Replaced the Spooky line of AC130s. Another bad ass CAS beast, but no gatling gun!? I can imagine it’s warm fuzzy feeling to know what one of those is overhead when requested, but that buzz saw noise no longer being part of that makes me sad.
Thanks, that was good.
Badass video. It’s kinda sad that the gatling gun is going away. But I believe that 30mm cannon is a similar gun that the Army was testing for the Bradley. One of my old buddies who worked in R&D said that 30mm gun is a beast. Im betting that 30mm gun is going to be able to keep in the fight long after the 25mm gatling gun runs out of ammo.
Dude…
Be interesting to see the effectiveness of lasers for covert ops. 2022? Supposed to be capable of toasting relatively small targets like satellite dishes and disabling vehicles. Effective range?
The original AC-47 Puff the Magic Dragon gunship.
One of my squad leaders in Panama had PCS’d there from the 82nd Airborne. He was deployed for Operation Urgent Fury (Grenada). I’m sure some of you older bastages have heard the story about using an ATT phone card while under fire to get ahold of Bragg and request support? He was in that unit. Once the comms were straightened out and the request went through he said a Spectre flew over and put a single 105mm round into the building pinning them down and it was over. One shot…BOOM…no more fire.
Oh I’ll bet there is another category of targets it will toast…:rolleyes:
Kind of like “back in the day” we were always told that a .50 BMG was for enemy “equipment”. Of course that also applied to helmets, LBE, AK’s, etc.
Accolades to the Air Force. The AC-130 is light years ahead of the AC-47, naval gun fire and ground based artillery support. The AC-130 is a hell of a lot more accurate and they can dump more bad news on Mr. I Hate America in a shorter period of time than the old school options.
Good job Air Force!
Only takes one well placed 105 to ruin your whole day.
It still amazes me that they mounted a 105 in that plane and it is pinpoint accurate. The original AC-47 had 3 7.62 mini guns, which was still very accurate for the time. I remember my father telling me about his experience with their accuracy in Vietnam. His squad was once pinned down by a much larger NVA force with no chance for extraction or reinforcements. There was an AC-47 in the area so my father told them that he was on the east side of the road and to walk his fire down the west side of the road, basically 20 feet away. The gunship made a pass and walked his fire straight up the road, and Dad said the noise was unreal. Afterwards there was not a thing left alive so his squad was able to just get up and walk out of there.
That looks an awful lot like an M68 Breech, which would make it the same old 105 originally mounted in the Abrams.
Those things are pin point accurate.
Now I want to watch “The Green Berets” with John Wayne…
I can understand the need for precision munitions on armor and stuff, but nothing would put fear into an enemy like the sound of brrrrtttt…Gatling guns and creeping wall of lead going towards them…
I’m sure they did their due diligence as to best choices for the mission for the new version, but the intimidation and fear factor of the gattlers when they opened up must be worth something too.
Wow, total game changer this one. Hellfire? Damn…
Dude, as much fear as the lawnmower BRRRRT sound would cause…precision standoff is even scarier!
Destruction from above, from nowhere…hell yeah.
When they were on station you usually could not hear them…until you called them. The Air Force TACP/JTAC and CCT guys could dance the dance with Spectre and get fire up to 30 meters from us. They were brilliant. Our own JTAC guys could do alright, but the AF studs were awesome.
I think the 105mm mounted on the AC-130 is a M102, 105mm howitzer.
I’m not sure off the top of my head which model gun it is, but I think I found a case for one a couple years ago. Not sure the USAF has many other 105mm applications
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It is an M102 howitzer. Which makes a lot of sense considering it is compact, with a good rate of fire, good barrel life, and decent recoil characteristics.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a25922079/ac-130-gunship-howitzer-video/