No procurement program emerged from that study. The desire for an advanced capability remains. It is preferable to keep them in low-threat environments. In , Lt. Michael W. Wooley emphasized the value of stealthy platforms to reduce the threat to the gunships. The general suggested that the new gunship might in turn be a derivative of the proposed next generation bomber, a heavy, long-range aircraft intended to have the best of the current low observable technology and which was supposed to be fielded by That concept did not gain much support, and, in any event, the Pentagon in April scrapped that bomber program.
Julianne Showalter. Keeping Them Visible. Bradley A. Heithold said the new ACJ would be a multimission aircraft capable of covertly transporting special operations fighters into and out of hostile areas, as well as providing airborne fire support.
Heithold added that obtaining a replacement aircraft was becoming urgent for AFSOC because of the wing box fatigue problem and obsolescent avionics in the ACs. Bliss, Tex. Because of their heavy usage during more than seven years of war, Nardo said, even the comparatively young U models are beginning to experience the same wing problems.
Boeing photo by Ed Turner. The gunships were removed from the AMP in because of a lack of funding, but officials are hopeful they can return the ACs to the AMP process beginning in Other improvements in their electronics have already paid dividends, Nardo said.
U models have been receiving new radios and Link 16 systems to improve their communications and data transfer capabilities, he said. We try to get systems that not only increase the readiness rates but reduce the logistics cost and man-hour costs. As soon as we finish one set of modifications, we start another set.
While the Air Force will not receive any new-build gunships, it will carry out a second-best solution: infusing the force with as many as a dozen additional old airframes, all of them remodeled Cs. Vice Adm. The MC already has an all-weather capability, and wing tanks and in-flight refueling capabilities.
Outside of AFSOC, there is a program under way that could provide a directed energy weapon for a future laser gunship. USAF photo. A recent Air Force Scientific Advisory Board study advocated a laser-armed gunship as a means to reduce collateral damage in an urban environment, but the study recommended maintaining a kinetic weapon as well because of the greater explosive power that a cannon can provide.
A laser would need at least kilowatts of power and a seven kilometer slant range to be effective, the science board said. The availability of such a weapon might not be that far off. On June 13, Boeing successfully fired the weapon in flight for the first time. Skip to content. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. In little more than one month, the United States will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept.
It is unclear how much of Afghanistan — if any — the Kabul government will control by then. Learn more here and be sure to check out more great stories on our homepage. He has covered the military for 15 years. You can email him at schogol taskandpurpose.
Contact the author here. It wasn't a priority for them. Army researchers and tech companies demonstrated an unmanned aircraft delivering whole blood to a landing zone in Virginia. ACJ Ghostrider. But that massive boom also recoils the gun back 49 inches, with 14, pounds of force — easily enough to instantly kill an unfortunate crew member caught behind it.
For that reason, a safety cage was built around the mm cannon to keep airmen away from danger. Beers said the airframe of the ACJ is stronger than it normally would be so that it can handle the fatiguing effect of such massive recoil. But, he said, the crew is careful not to shoot both the 30mm and mm at the same time, since that would double up on the stress and recoil.
But the crew feels the recoil nonetheless. For example, an ACU pilot with the 4th Special Operations Squadron, who asked that his name not be used, said sustained bursts of his plane's 25mm Gatling gun — which can fire 1, rounds per minute — actually pushes the nose to the right.
It's a huge recoil from the , but definitely the 25mm is the most significant recoil that we feel up front. The ACJ will carry 80 mm rounds, and can fire more than 10 rounds a minute, Beers said, and the plane's crew can also use the controls to aim it at targets. Zoom stick and boom stick Between the 30mm and the mm cannons is the MOP, or Mission Operator Pallet — two stations, one for WSOs like Beers and one for an enlisted sensor operator, each with multiple video screens and instruments controlling the array of cameras and sensors that help the crew target, and another control used to fire weapons.
It uses some instruments borrowed from the F, which Beers said helps save money. Beers demonstrated how he uses the "zoom stick" to turn the plane's cameras degrees and toggle between a standard view and infrared, switch the infrared's polarity, and tweak the image for better resolution. He pointed it toward a light pole far off in the distance on the tarmac and zoomed in — and zoomed, and zoomed, and zoomed again, until a tiny red bulb on top of the light pole filled the screen, pixelated and shimmering beneath the thermal heat radiating up.
From the MOP, crew members must absorb a massive amount of information for their situational awareness — where friendly troops and aircraft are, where enemies and their vehicles are, where civilians are — using radio communications, emails, targeting data, and video beamed in from other sources, such as command headquarters. The AGMA Griffin missiles are the centerpiece of the Ghostrider's precision-strike package — and part of what makes it truly stand above its predecessors.
The plane carries 10 Griffins, which are essentially half-scale Hellfire missiles that are laser-guided, with a fragmentation warhead and a GPS backup to ensure it lands on target. Each Griffin stands nose-up in a roughly 4-foot-tall tube mounted in its tail.
When it's time to fire, the Griffin is electrically launched out of the back of the plane, pops out its fins, and orients itself into the windstream.
When it's far enough away, its rocket motor fires and it "goes screaming off past the plane," Beers said.
Master Sgt. But those missiles — being precision-guided munitions — are much more expensive than the 30mm or mm shells, Beers said. So they're typically reserved for the highest-priority targets that must be hit with the greatest accuracy. All the various weapons on board allow the crew to gradually escalate the amount of force used to meet the threat.
Frickin' lasers. And it could get even cooler. I've got the space, I've got the weight, and I've got the power. Heithold floated the idea of first using a laser -- possibly mounted in place of the mm gun — in a defensive capacity, to take down an enemy missile fired at the ACJ. But eventually, Heithold said, he envisioned using it for offense, to disable enemy aircraft or other vehicles. Such a laser could have come in handy during the capture of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, he said.
During that operation, four Navy SEALs died in the process of destroying his boat and airplane to keep him from escaping. You haven't spooked anybody, you've simply disabled the aircraft. Beers agreed that a silent laser would be a great weapon to have at his disposal. The laser would "give us an advantage, and be able to just take out a truck from miles away, without nobody knowing," Beers said.
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