AC-130H Spectre / AC-130U Spooky II

AC-130H Spectre / AC-130U Spooky II (Ground-attack aircraft) – 25

Manufacturer: Lockheed and Boeing

First flight: AC-130A – 1966

Introduction: AC-130A – 1968

Number built: 47 (in all variants)

Unit cost: AC-130H – $132.4 million; AC-130U – $190 million (2002)

Developed from: Lockheed C-130 Hercules

Crew: 13

Officers: 5 (pilot, copilot, navigator, fire control officer, electronic warfare officer)

Enlisted: 8 (flight engineer, TV operator, infrared detection set operator, loadmaster, four aerial gunners)

Length: 29.8 m; Wingspan: 40.4 m; Height: 11.7 m;

Wing area: 162.2 m²

Loaded weight: 55,520 kg

Max. takeoff weight: 69,750 kg

Powerplant: 4× Allison T56-A-15 turboprops, 4,910 shp (3,700 kW) each

Maximum speed: 480 km/h

Range: 4,070 km

Service ceiling: 9,100 m

Armament

AC-130A Project Gunship II:

4× 7.62 mm GAU-2/A miniguns;

4× 20 mm M61 Vulcan 6-barrel Gatling cannon

AC-130A Surprise Package, Pave Pronto, AC-130E Pave Spectre:

2× 7.62 mm GAU-2/A miniguns;

2× 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon;

2× 40 mm L/60 Bofors cannon

AC-130E Pave Aegis:

2× 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon;

1× 40 mm L/60 Bofors cannon;

1× 105 mm M102 howitzer

AC-130H Spectre:

1× 40 mm L/60 Bofors cannon;

1× 105 mm M102 howitzer

AC-130U Spooky II:

1× General Dynamics 25 mm GAU-12/U Equalizer 5-barreled Gatling cannon;

1× 40 mm L/60 Bofors cannon;

1× 105 mm M102 howitzer

AC-130W Stinger II / AC-130J Ghostrider:

1x 30 mm ATK GAU-23/A autocannon;

«Gunslinger» weapons system with launch tube for AGM-176 Griffin missiles and/or GBU-44/B Viper Strike munitions (10 round magazines);

Wing mounted, AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs (SDBs) and/or GBU-53/B SDB IIs (4 per hardpoint on BRU-61/A rack)

Avionics

AC-130H Spectre

Mission systems:

Northrop Grumman AN/APN-241 multimode navigation radar – derived version of AN/APG-66 radar (formerly used on F-16A Fighting Falcon) consisting of precised navigation and air-to-ground modes including Monopulse Ground Mapping (MGM), Doppler Beam Sharpening (DBS), high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Terrain Avoidance/Terrain Following (TA/TF), skin paint (for Station KEeping; SKE), maritime detection, weather/turbulence detection, wind shear alert, and ballistic wind measurement (for precision airdrop);

Motorola (now General Dynamics) AN/APQ-150 Beacon Tracking Radar (BTR) – side-looking radar designed to search, acquire, and track ground beacon signal (X-band transponder) located at a friendly position from 10 nautical miles, beacon coordinate is used as a reference point for ground troop to give the gunship a bearing and range from the beacon to the desired target (mounted between 40 mm cannon and 105 mm howitzer);

Cubic Corporation AN/ARS-6 Personnel Locator System (PLS) – radio navigation set;

Raytheon AN/AAQ-26 Infrared Detecting Set (IDS) – long-wave infrared (LWIR) band Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) (mounted forward of the nose landing gear door);

General Electric (now Lockheed Martin) AN/ASQ-145 Low Light Level Television (LLLTV) – EO fire control system consists of television camera (CCD-TV), AN/AVQ-19 Laser Target Designator/Ranger (LTD/R – 1064 nm laser emitter with permanently preset PRF code) with eyesafe mode (1570 nm laser emitter), AN/AAT-3 Ambient Temperature Illuminator (ATI – wide beam 860 nm laser illuminator), and Infrared Zoom Laser Illuminator Designator (IZLID – airborne version of 860 nm narrow beam laser pointer/marker and illuminator AN/PEQ-18) (mounted in the crew entrance door)

Navigation systems:

Teledyne Ryan (now Northrop Grumman) AN/APN-218 radar – doppler navigation radar

Previously installed systems:

AN/APN-59 radar – search and weather radar

AC-130U Spooky II

Mission systems:

Raytheon AN/APQ-180 multimode attack radar – enhanced version of AN/APG-70 radar (used on F-15E Strike Eagle) incorporating several enhanced air-to-ground modes such as fixed target track, ground moving target indication and track, projectile impact point position, beacon track, and a weather detection;

Raytheon AN/AAQ-26 IDS – LWIR FLIR (mounted on port side of the nose landing gear door);

Lockheed Martin AN/AAQ-39 Gunship Multispectral Sensor System (GMS2) – EO/IR fire control system consists of mid-wave infrared (MWIR) FLIR, two Image-Intensified Television (I2TV) cameras (CCD-TV), laser target designator/rangefinder with eyesafe mode (1064 and 1570 nm dual mode laser emitter), and near-infrared (NIR) laser pointer/marker (860 nm laser emitter) (mounted under the nose of port landing gear sponson)

Previously installed systems:

GEC-Marconi All Light Level Television (ALLTV) – EO fire control systems consists of CCD-TV, Laser Target Designator/Range Finder (LTD/RF – 1064 nm laser emitter with in-flight programmable PRF code) with eyesafe mode (1570 nm laser emitter), and Laser Illuminator Assembly (LIA – 860 nm laser emitter)

Countermeasures:

Raytheon AN/ALR-69 – digital Radar warning receiver (RWR);

L-3 Communications AN/AAR-44 – UV-based Missile Approach Warning System (MAWS);

ITT Exelis AN/ALQ-172 – Digital radio frequency memory (DRFM) jammer-based Electronic countermeasure (ECM) incorporating integrated Electronic Warfare (EW) self-protection function of detection, processing, warning, prioritization, jamming, and threat display;

BAE Systems AN/ALQ-196 Low-Band Jammer (LBJ) – low frequency DRFM jammer-based ECM;

Northrop Grumman AN/AAQ-24 Nemesis – laser-based Directional Infrared Counter Measures (DIRCM) (mounted on the port and starboard rear fuselage)

BAE Systems AN/ALE-47 Countermeasure Dispensing System (CMDS) – chaff/flare dispenser

Sixteen AC-130J Ghostrider planned to replace AC-130H and increase fleet size