AC-130U Gunship
U.S. Air Force photo by Master SGT. Jeremy Lock
An Air Force AC-130U Gunship from the 4th Special Operations Squadron goes into a lwft bank during a training mission.
The AC-130U 'Spooky' is a variant of the C-130 cargo plane which has been mnodified in order to operate as a gunship.
The aircraft is equipped with trainable, side-firing 105mm, 40mm and 25mm guns mounted in its port fuselage.
A suite of advanced sensors, including strike radar, infrared detection set and all-light television cameras allow the Spooky to find and target the enemy on the ground.
A communications package aboard the AC-130U allows JTACs on the ground, such as AFSOC Combat Controllers, to coordinate fire support with the aircraft.
