March 3, 2006
AP: AC - 130 Gunships Returning to Iraq
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:20 p.m. ET
AN AIR BASE IN IRAQ (AP) -- The U.S. Air Force has begun moving heavily armed AC-130 airplanes -- the lethal ''flying gunships'' of the Vietnam War -- to a base in Iraq as commanders search for new tools to counter the Iraqi resistance, The Associated Press has learned.
An AP reporter saw the first of the turboprop-driven aircraft after it landed at the airfield this week. Four are expected.
The Iraq-based special forces command controlling the AC-130s, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, said it would have no comment on the deployment. But the plan's general outline was confirmed by other Air Force officers, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Military officials warned that disclosing the location of the aircraft's new base would violate security provisions of rules governing media access to U.S. installations.
The four-engine gunships, whose home base is Hurlburt Field in Florida, have operated over Iraq before, flying from airfields elsewhere in the region. In November 2004, air-to-ground fire from AC-130s supported the U.S. attack that took the western city of Fallujah from insurgents. Basing the planes inside Iraq will cut hours off their transit time to reach suspected targets.
The left-side ports of the AC-130s, 98-foot-long planes that can slowly circle over a target for long periods, bristle with a potent arsenal -- 40 mm cannon that can fire 120 rounds per minute, and big 105 mm cannon, normally a field artillery weapon. The plane's latest version, the AC-130U, known as ''Spooky,'' also carries Gatling gun-type 20 mm cannon.
The gunships were designed primarily for battlefield use to place saturated fire on massed troops. In Vietnam, for example, they were deployed against North Vietnamese supply convoys along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, where the Air Force claimed to have destroyed 10,000 trucks over several years.
The use of AC-130s in places like Fallujah, urban settings where insurgents may be among crowded populations of noncombatants, has been criticized by human rights groups.
The slow-moving AC-130s also offer an intelligence gathering advantage in the Iraq fight: sophisticated long-range video, infrared and radar sensors.
American commanders are marshaling all available tools to detect the Iraqi insurgents' stealthy operations, especially at night, when they plant roadside bombs targeting American road patrols and convoys.
The Air Force's senior tactical commander in Iraq said the AC-130 can be both a high-intensity and low-intensity weapon.
''It's got tons of guns, and it's got all kinds of stuff on it that can be applied to the problems you have,'' Brig. Gen. Frank Gorenc, who refused to discuss the current AC-130 deployment, said in an AP interview.
That ''stuff'' includes ''the ability to take these high-tech pods and to use them to find guys planting (bombs) and to find other nefarious activity,'' he said.
The Predator drone -- the MQ-1 unmanned aerial vehicle -- has been a reconnaissance workhorse in Iraq, but Air Force officers say they don't have enough to meet demand for missions. The fiscal 2007 Defense Department budget proposed last month by the Bush administration envisions spending $1.6 billion on additional reconnaissance drones.
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Full Version: AC-130 Gunships Returning to Iraq
Common Ground Common Sense > Issues that Affect Our Lives > U.S. Military Issues > U.S. Military Issues Archive
QUOTE(Snuffysmith @ Mar 3 2006, 10:57 AM)
March 3, 2006
AP: AC - 130 Gunships Returning to Iraq
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:20 p.m. ET
AN AIR BASE IN IRAQ (AP) -- The U.S. Air Force has begun moving heavily armed AC-130 airplanes -- the lethal ''flying gunships'' of the Vietnam War -- to a base in Iraq as commanders search for new tools to counter the Iraqi resistance, The Associated Press has learned.
An AP reporter saw the first of the turboprop-driven aircraft after it landed at the airfield this week. Four are expected.
The Iraq-based special forces command controlling the AC-130s, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, said it would have no comment on the deployment. But the plan's general outline was confirmed by other Air Force officers, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Military officials warned that disclosing the location of the aircraft's new base would violate security provisions of rules governing media access to U.S. installations.
The four-engine gunships, whose home base is Hurlburt Field in Florida, have operated over Iraq before, flying from airfields elsewhere in the region. In November 2004, air-to-ground fire from AC-130s supported the U.S. attack that took the western city of Fallujah from insurgents. Basing the planes inside Iraq will cut hours off their transit time to reach suspected targets.
The left-side ports of the AC-130s, 98-foot-long planes that can slowly circle over a target for long periods, bristle with a potent arsenal -- 40 mm cannon that can fire 120 rounds per minute, and big 105 mm cannon, normally a field artillery weapon. The plane's latest version, the AC-130U, known as ''Spooky,'' also carries Gatling gun-type 20 mm cannon.
The gunships were designed primarily for battlefield use to place saturated fire on massed troops. In Vietnam, for example, they were deployed against North Vietnamese supply convoys along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, where the Air Force claimed to have destroyed 10,000 trucks over several years.
The use of AC-130s in places like Fallujah, urban settings where insurgents may be among crowded populations of noncombatants, has been criticized by human rights groups.
The slow-moving AC-130s also offer an intelligence gathering advantage in the Iraq fight: sophisticated long-range video, infrared and radar sensors.
American commanders are marshaling all available tools to detect the Iraqi insurgents' stealthy operations, especially at night, when they plant roadside bombs targeting American road patrols and convoys.
The Air Force's senior tactical commander in Iraq said the AC-130 can be both a high-intensity and low-intensity weapon.
''It's got tons of guns, and it's got all kinds of stuff on it that can be applied to the problems you have,'' Brig. Gen. Frank Gorenc, who refused to discuss the current AC-130 deployment, said in an AP interview.
That ''stuff'' includes ''the ability to take these high-tech pods and to use them to find guys planting (bombs) and to find other nefarious activity,'' he said.
The Predator drone -- the MQ-1 unmanned aerial vehicle -- has been a reconnaissance workhorse in Iraq, but Air Force officers say they don't have enough to meet demand for missions. The fiscal 2007 Defense Department budget proposed last month by the Bush administration envisions spending $1.6 billion on additional reconnaissance drones.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map Back to Top
AP: AC - 130 Gunships Returning to Iraq
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:20 p.m. ET
AN AIR BASE IN IRAQ (AP) -- The U.S. Air Force has begun moving heavily armed AC-130 airplanes -- the lethal ''flying gunships'' of the Vietnam War -- to a base in Iraq as commanders search for new tools to counter the Iraqi resistance, The Associated Press has learned.
An AP reporter saw the first of the turboprop-driven aircraft after it landed at the airfield this week. Four are expected.
The Iraq-based special forces command controlling the AC-130s, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, said it would have no comment on the deployment. But the plan's general outline was confirmed by other Air Force officers, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Military officials warned that disclosing the location of the aircraft's new base would violate security provisions of rules governing media access to U.S. installations.
The four-engine gunships, whose home base is Hurlburt Field in Florida, have operated over Iraq before, flying from airfields elsewhere in the region. In November 2004, air-to-ground fire from AC-130s supported the U.S. attack that took the western city of Fallujah from insurgents. Basing the planes inside Iraq will cut hours off their transit time to reach suspected targets.
The left-side ports of the AC-130s, 98-foot-long planes that can slowly circle over a target for long periods, bristle with a potent arsenal -- 40 mm cannon that can fire 120 rounds per minute, and big 105 mm cannon, normally a field artillery weapon. The plane's latest version, the AC-130U, known as ''Spooky,'' also carries Gatling gun-type 20 mm cannon.
The gunships were designed primarily for battlefield use to place saturated fire on massed troops. In Vietnam, for example, they were deployed against North Vietnamese supply convoys along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, where the Air Force claimed to have destroyed 10,000 trucks over several years.
The use of AC-130s in places like Fallujah, urban settings where insurgents may be among crowded populations of noncombatants, has been criticized by human rights groups.
The slow-moving AC-130s also offer an intelligence gathering advantage in the Iraq fight: sophisticated long-range video, infrared and radar sensors.
American commanders are marshaling all available tools to detect the Iraqi insurgents' stealthy operations, especially at night, when they plant roadside bombs targeting American road patrols and convoys.
The Air Force's senior tactical commander in Iraq said the AC-130 can be both a high-intensity and low-intensity weapon.
''It's got tons of guns, and it's got all kinds of stuff on it that can be applied to the problems you have,'' Brig. Gen. Frank Gorenc, who refused to discuss the current AC-130 deployment, said in an AP interview.
That ''stuff'' includes ''the ability to take these high-tech pods and to use them to find guys planting (bombs) and to find other nefarious activity,'' he said.
The Predator drone -- the MQ-1 unmanned aerial vehicle -- has been a reconnaissance workhorse in Iraq, but Air Force officers say they don't have enough to meet demand for missions. The fiscal 2007 Defense Department budget proposed last month by the Bush administration envisions spending $1.6 billion on additional reconnaissance drones.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map Back to Top
Puff is back! If you've never seen what that killing machine can do, it is a Dante-esque scene of horrible amazing devastation. Nothing survives, not even the roaches.
QUOTE(Snuffysmith @ Mar 3 2006, 01:57 PM)
March 3, 2006
AP: AC - 130 Gunships Returning to Iraq
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:20 p.m. ET (snip)
Don't hurt my feelin's none that they're goin' back, eh? Methinks they're the perfect platform for some of the missions over there.AP: AC - 130 Gunships Returning to Iraq
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:20 p.m. ET (snip)
I'm a bit puzzled why these things were removed from the theater to begin with. Methinks if you wanna deploy a real attention getter, this is one of the better ones!
Bet if it gets used like it's supposed to be and it gets reported someone here on CGCS'll complain 'tis a violation of one of the Geneva Conventions though, eh? Methinks the last thing you wanna contemplate in battle's fightin' fair, but there be some who don't seem to understand that concept.
QUOTE(flydangler @ Mar 3 2006, 03:31 PM)
Don't hurt my feelin's none that they're goin' back, eh? Methinks they're the perfect platform for some of the missions over there.
I'm a bit puzzled why these things were removed from the theater to begin with. Methinks if you wanna deploy a real attention getter, this is one of the better ones!
Bet if it gets used like it's supposed to be and it gets reported someone here on CGCS'll complain 'tis a violation of one of the Geneva Conventions though, eh? Methinks the last thing you wanna contemplate in battle's fightin' fair, but there be some who don't seem to understand that concept.
I'm a bit puzzled why these things were removed from the theater to begin with. Methinks if you wanna deploy a real attention getter, this is one of the better ones!
Bet if it gets used like it's supposed to be and it gets reported someone here on CGCS'll complain 'tis a violation of one of the Geneva Conventions though, eh? Methinks the last thing you wanna contemplate in battle's fightin' fair, but there be some who don't seem to understand that concept.
Won't find me in that pack, Doc. If your in a war and the purpose is to kill the bad guys, this will kill a lot of bad guys. Just seeing one in the sky is terrifying.
QUOTE(winston smith @ Mar 3 2006, 07:49 PM)
If your in a war and the purpose is to kill the bad guys, this will kill a lot of bad guys.
That's the case for most, but parta my job was to try to put as many of the bad guys back together again as I could, at least that was the case after any of our guys got treated. My first tour in the Nam I guess I saved more'n a few that'd started out by shootin' at us. QUOTE
Just seeing one in the sky is terrifying.
I've only seen one of the first generation "Puff" platforms in action once, methinks 'twas December '68 up near Nha Trang. It was nothin' shorta awsome! Bet it put at least one round in every square inch of an area 2 km long and a km wide. There'd been an NVA regiment in the target area, but you couldn't hardly tell it when "Puff" was done with their runs..
QUOTE(winston smith @ Mar 3 2006, 06:49 PM)
Won't find me in that pack, Doc. If your in a war and the purpose is to kill the bad guys, this will kill a lot of bad guys. Just seeing one in the sky is terrifying.
Equally terrifying for civilians to see, as well, I'm sure.
QUOTE(grammydidi @ Mar 4 2006, 04:47 AM)
Equally terrifying for civilians to see, as well, I'm sure.
Yeah it's awesome, especially at night.
Ever seen that movie War of the Worlds where the Martians are using their "Death Ray"? That's what it looks like.
QUOTE(Marine @ Mar 4 2006, 01:46 PM)
Yeah it's awesome, especially at night.
Ever seen that movie War of the Worlds where the Martians are using their "Death Ray"? That's what it looks like.
Ever seen that movie War of the Worlds where the Martians are using their "Death Ray"? That's what it looks like.
"Death Spray" rather than "Death Ray." I'ts awesome without a doubt.
QUOTE(winston smith @ Mar 4 2006, 04:17 PM)
"Death Spray" rather than "Death Ray." I'ts awesome without a doubt.
Hey Winston, did I ever tell you what it's like on the receiving end of a mini-gun? I was training a radio man from Boston, a real shape fellow except his accent was damned hard to decipher sometimes. We had a flight of 4 cobra gunships he was bringing in for an attack and one of the weapons officers heard AP instead of OP. The signifiance of that is AP is suspose to mean Aiming Point where they was suspose shoot and OP means Observation Post which where we was sitting.
He hosed us good for about two seconds, God only knows how no one got killed. My poot-chute didn't unpucker for about a week.
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