America's New AC-130J Ghostrider Gunship is a Beast

“ENEMY AC-130 ABOVE”

I was a combat Marine in Vietnam..our hill was attacked at 2a.m. and close to being overrun..the gunship "Puff the magic dragon" came and circled our hill .. the roar was terrifying and the memories of all that death is still a part of me today..we are forever grateful for Puff .. but it's impact on my soul remains

As a gunner in an Abrams tank i traveled through Kuwait in the first Gulf War. These C130 spooky that I saw participate in freeing Kuwait was absolutely frightening. There is nothing more intimidating from the sky than the C130 spooky I cannot imagine they have improved upon it

My great uncle was a Bofors gunner in WWII in the Navy. Bummed to see that the Bofors is no longer in service. Crazy to think they were searching the world for parts... that's what we have machinists for.

We humans make some really cool stuff to kill each other with....

Puff the magic dragon has come a long way

So someone sat in a meeting, one person said "let's put a Howitzer 105 in an AC-130", and that was agreed upon. Good decision.

I just retired almost couple of years ago at my last duty station Air Force Special Ops. Dealt with these on a daily basis and my last deployment to Iraq. Ghostrider aka Black Death. Love these babies.

No mention of cup-holders. Oh well, there's always the soon-to-be-announced AC-130Y.

"Don't bother to run.......you'll only die tired", Spectre gunship motto.

They're doing a lot of stuff with lasers they could probably write a sentence on a postcard from a mile away if they wanted too. They're great for surveillance and supporting multi-purpose platforms.

Salute too all OUR FLY BOYZ.. GOD BLESS YOU ALL UP THERE.

i love that the military when making the ac 130 was like, Ok lets put artilery cannons on to a cargo plane

I'm not working in the aerospace sector, but I am an engineer, and as an engineer, I love designs like the AC-130's. Those are designs that may be not be flashy and may not have the latest and greatest tech. But they are reliable, stable, sturdy, flexible, reusable, and so successful that they are used for decades even though their overall tech may be outdated. Similarly, I prefer cars that may not be a looker, but are reliable, easy to maintain, handle adverse weather conditions, and just keep on working and working. Or, when we look at old cellphones, the counterpart would be the indestructible Nokia 3310.

She is a beast. I was spotlighted by her IR during training in a thick wood in Florida. My MILES gear went off immediately. C-130 Flying Low. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Iam a USMC tank crewman 14mo. in VN, and we called it PUFF, our team would setup a strobe mid open wire camp [NO wire, nothing] This plane given I was a tank crewman [hard to hide] and trust me the NVA had, hand carry RPG's that could "waste us, and tank] I truly believe between this plane, Navy Corpmen, and of course other marines, I will be 75 years old today, and while I wouldn't wish the 'night terrors' on anyone. I thank their service nearly daily. Those that weren't there 'have no f'n clue. Thank you crew. What a night time show as well... it has to be seen to believe.

Another beautiful generation of the AC130

I live down the road from Hurlburt field. It's awesome to see and hear these planes performing firing training over the Eglin range. They often fly in pairs of 2, in a circular overwatch pattern. The shockwaves from the 105mm shells shake the walls and windows. It's very cool, but it's equally annoying at night.

This has always been a badass setup. Just demolishing enemies!

"Prop driven aircraft are obsolete" Ghostrider: Someone called?