Modern, dedicated Gunship Aircraft

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
There seems to be a change happening in gunships.
the traditional emphasis for the AC130 series was the move to heavier guns. Gunships started out with 7.62x51mm miniguns then moved to Vulcan 20mm Cannons, then added 40mm Bolfors and then 105mm howitzers Then Equalizer 25mm gatling with 40mm bulfors and the 105mm. but now now we see them moving away form the gun as the main arm and more reliance on Rockets and missiles.
the Harvest Hawk with it's Gunslinger system firing Hellfire missiles and dropping Griphin bombs, APKWS with only maybe a Bushmaster cannon. now sure AC130J will have the 105mm but that was more of a token addition. the main attack will be bombs and ATGMs.
With this model the huge size of transports like the C17 and A400M really are not the best option. There better suited to being the pack Mules well smaller types like the C130J and below are the better gun ships.

The other change we are seeing is the Roll on Gunship. This means That AC130J might be the last that needs serious modifications well future models are more converted as needed.
NATO deploys to fight a insurgency some where and needs some gunships? fly a few transports to a large air base and roll the attack modules into the bay take the door off and point the guns out in a few weeks you can double the number of attackers
Once it's all settled the transports can be returned to conventional use.
.For smaller Transport fleets like the Europeans or for a service like the Marines who want some of this in house capacity This makes sense. Rather then keep specialized squadrons of transports and limit your nations logistics, you keep only a couple in peace for training,

Smaller birds also make sense in this as they can take off from more forward points. This could even lead into Craft like the V22 Osprey. There has been talk over the years of using it as a gunship and the recent rocket and missile launches indicate this could go somewhere. Imagine having a AV22 Attached to a MEU. Rather then having to fly a AC130 from the states at the start of operations a few Gun-Sprey could take off from the LHA/LHD.
 

kwaigonegin

Colonel
You don't need a lot of units for such platforms. Keep in mind that gunships can deliver something a more specialized aircraft can't. And that's complete terror.
99% of the time bombs and missiles will suffice and we already have tons of platforms that do that very well however there will be times where raining down hell on earth is the only way. The sheer psychological effect of thousands of rounds raining down on your position from a single source simply cannot be duplicated with bombs and missiles.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
I think the a400m platform would make ideal gunships. Couple of 30mm mk 44 bushmasters, modified 76 oto melara with apfsds and 35 mm oerlikon twin with ap incendiaries then the 105.

It's basically a flying gunboat and a convoy destroying system... But more importantly it's a soul crushing system and a morale killer. You bring it out a few times and most enemies would surrender.
An A400M gunship would indeed be a site to see!

A gunship version of the AN-12 or Y-8 could have been developed, but to date the Russians and Chinese have apparently seen no need for such a specialized close support aircraft.
 

FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
Also planned 2 French C-130H modified with AASM bombs on hard points under wings.

USAF SOC fleet :
17 AC-130U 1x105, 1x40, 1x25 gatling
12 AC-130W 1 x105, 1x30, 8 miss ou 113 kg bombs under wings, 10 Griffin or 20 kg bombs GBU-44 inside
37 AC-130J delivered 2014/2018 same weapons as AC-130W

Hurluburt Field
4 SOS, 12 AC-130U

Cannon
73 SOS, 10 AC-130W ; 16 SOS had AC-130H retired, receive AC-130J
551 SOS OCU, 5 AC-130U, 2 AC-130W, later 5 AC-130J

USMC
10 KC-130J ( on 47 ) modified for can receive Harvest HAWK kit, 9 Kits, 3 allocated by VMGR Sqns each have 15 KC-130J
Weapons : 4 x Helfire under wings, 1 x 30, 10 Griffin or 20 kg bombs GBU-44 Inside

10 Griffin or 20 kg bombs GBU-44 inside lauched by a system with which it is not necessary depressurize the cargo compartment.
 

SamuraiBlue

Captain
You don't need a lot of units for such platforms. Keep in mind that gunships can deliver something a more specialized aircraft can't. And that's complete terror.
99% of the time bombs and missiles will suffice and we already have tons of platforms that do that very well however there will be times where raining down hell on earth is the only way. The sheer psychological effect of thousands of rounds raining down on your position from a single source simply cannot be duplicated with bombs and missiles.
An A400M gunship would indeed be a site to see!

You guys must be kidding. A gun ship the size of an A400?
Why in the hell would you need such a large platform?
The AC-130 is more than enough to do the job. If Airbus was going to offer a similar option, I'm sure they would utilize a smaller platform like the C295 which is more then capable to do the job if necessary.
 

Bernard

Junior Member
You guys must be kidding. A gun ship the size of an A400?
Why in the hell would you need such a large platform?
The AC-130 is more than enough to do the job. If Airbus was going to offer a similar option, I'm sure they would utilize a smaller platform like the C295 which is more then capable to do the job if necessary.

Better question when are they going to put multiple 105 mm cannons on a gunship like the A400! Imagine that!! :eek::eek::eek:
 
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