¿Qué tan LETAL es un AC-130?

Video from the channel Armapedia about Lockheed C-130 Hercules, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 12:29. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.

Explanatory piece about the AC-130, the gunship version of the C-130 Hercules. It explains how it operates, which conflicts it has taken part in and how its armament has evolved from one variant to the next, up to the laser weapon projects.

The gunship concept with side-firing weapons was born in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos with the AC-47. Thanks to its spacious cargo hold, endurance and ruggedness, the Hercules proved to be the ideal platform. The video reviews its use in Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada (1983), Operation Just Cause in Panama (1989), Desert Storm, Somalia and the Middle East. It also notes that, not counting Vietnam, only one was lost to enemy fire: Spirit 03, in 1991, with its 14 crew members.

At low altitude, the aircraft flies in a left-hand orbit over the target and locates targets with infrared sensors. Its armament went from 20 mm Vulcan cannons and 7.62 mm miniguns to 40 mm Bofors cannons and a 105 mm M102 howitzer. The AC-130U mounted a 25 mm GAU-12. The AC-130W Stinger II and the AC-130J Ghostrider use a 30 mm Bushmaster II cannon, GBU-39 and GBU-44 glide bombs, and Hellfire missiles. The AC-130J flew its first combat mission in late June 2019 over Afghanistan. According to a Lockheed Martin press release dated 6 October 2021, factory testing had already been completed on a high-energy laser intended for this aircraft, which SOCOM places in the 60 kW class.