Air Force might remove 105mm canon from AC-130

[edpop]

The days of the AC-130J Ghostrider’s hefty 105mm cannon may be numbered.

U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command confirmed to Defense News it is considering removing this howitzer-sized weapon, used to carry out punishing strikes on ground targets, from the aircraft as early as 2026. The idea comes as the service rethinks how it will use the heavily armed gunship following the end of the Afghanistan War and amid a greater focus on America’s top adversary, China.

See: https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-air-force ... 41507.html

[charlielima223]

If I remember correctly when they were coming out with the AC-130W, there were talks to remove the 105 all together in favor for more precision strike munitions. At that time also they fiddled around with the smaller guns/cannons. They did away with the 20mm and replaced it with the 25mm but kept the 40mm for awhile. Then they ended up scrapping the 25mm and 40mm for a 30mm. They found out the 105 is still the most cost effective solution over missiles and bombs.

[daswp]

If I remember correctly when they were coming out with the AC-130W, there were talks to remove the 105 all together in favor for more precision strike munitions. At that time also they fiddled around with the smaller guns/cannons. They did away with the 20mm and replaced it with the 25mm but kept the 40mm for awhile. Then they ended up scrapping the 25mm and 40mm for a 30mm. They found out the 105 is still the most cost effective solution over missiles and bombs.

I think they are looking at weapons as circling over the target gets too risky. Though keeping the 30MM seems odd.

The other option may be the laser they talked about for years.

[charlielima223]

Funny you mention lasers...

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/a ... its-future

Also regarding the 30mm...
I'm not exactly sure on why they ditched the 25 and 40mm cannons. My GUESS is that the 30mm offers comparable capabilities to the 40 while being more accurate than the 25. Also it is the same 30mm used on the Stryker Dragoon and can fire the same type of ammo as the famous GAU-8.

[mekong68]

I heard the reason they went away from the 40 mm was due to ammo availability as well as supportability for the gun itself. Limited use of 40mm ammo meant considerably higher pricing for ammo and sourcing parts to keep the weapon operational was a concern as well.