Gunships

chrisrobsoar

Defense Professional
Verified Defense Pro
The small glide bomb is called “Viper Strike”. The following links give a good account of the weapon. It will be part of the AC-130 ACTD program.

The latest version of the weapon for the AC-130 is still in development, but earlier versions are in service and have bee dropped from various platforms including UAVs.


http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2005precision_strike_peo/oxford.ppt

http://www.special-operations-technology.com/article.cfm?DocID=588

http://defense-update.com/directory/viper-strike.htm


The following link covers the history of the AC-130 and has links to the earlier AC-47 & AC-119 aircraft. These links provide details of the sensor employed on these aircraft.

Interestingly the early AC-47 aircraft had no sensors at all. To aim the guns the pilot flew at a specific speed and bank angle and lined up the target with a wax crayon mark on the side of the canopy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC-130

The AC-130U aircraft are fitted with many sensors and self-protection equipment. A company that I used to work for produces much of this equipment. I did a quick calculation based on my knowledge of this equipment and estimates of the weight of the other equipment and was surprise that the total weight is well over 5,000lbs.

That is the total weight of sensors and ECM equipment carried by the AC-130, is more than twice the maximum payload for a large helicopter.

Chris
 

Gremlin29

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Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
Gremlin29 said:

Orbiting a threat area in a helicopter at altitude, would be suicidal!

adroth said:
Today, flying above 50 feet AGL isn't even considered a tactical mode of flight in the US (for helicopters). Unless your enemy promises to employ nothing but small arms, your going to be EXTREMELY vulnurable to AAA and any and all forms of ADA and SAM's. During the Vietnam conflict US helicopters began operating at +3,000 feet AGL to avoid small arms fire. This changed when AAA, SAM's and all other manner of air defense assetts were encounterd. In todays environment, a helicopter chugging along at 120 knots at altitude is nothing but a big easy target.
 
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adroth

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Today, flying above 50 feet AGL isn't even considered a tactical mode of flight in the US (for helicopters). Unless your enemy promises to employ nothing but small arms, your going to be EXTREMELY vulnurable to AAA and any and all forms of ADA and SAM's. During the Vietnam conflict US helicopters began operating at +3,000 feet AGL to avoid small arms fire. This changed when AAA, SAM's and all other manner of air defense assetts were encounterd. In todays environment, a helicopter chugging along at 120 knots at altitude is nothing but a big easy target.
Thanks Germlin. That would indeed be suicide when used against an oponent with the capabilities you mentioned.

The use I had mind, however, was for simple COIN ops -- against enemies that still haven't even reached Mao's stalemate stage yet. Our rebel groups (there are four of them) don't usually employ anything larger than 7.62mm rifles -- more often than not they use 5.56. Only the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (yes . . . they're called the MILF) use .50 cal rifles, but they usually reserve them for engaging our APCs.

In our environment, flying nap-of-the-earth is actually more dangerous that flying high. NOE gives the rebs a fighting chance of hitting our birds with a lucky shot.
 

mitenotlikeit

New Member
I believe it would be safe to say that most, if not all, folks here have heard of AC-130 Spectre gunships. A fair number probably know about the AC-47 "Spooky" gunships of the Vietnam era. What other nations have dedicated gunships?

On Timawa.net, we've been talking about how the South Africans mounted side-facing HMGs on their helicopters to achieve the same effect. Instead of having to do straffing runs, the choppers could simply circle as they delivered fire support.

Anyone else?
South Africa. Very interesting. Will be checking out your forum. Thanks.
 
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