Conway, today’s Commandant, allowed that the marines “have lusted for years” for AC-130s of their own, but could not afford them. “Frankly, I’m kicking myself that I waited so long,” Jones said. Jones, then the Marine Corps Commandant (and now President Barack Obama’s national security advisor) said he was so impressed with their work over Afghanistan that he wanted to get some for the Corps. AFSOC’s modern-day AC-130s are prized for their ability to loiter over targets until the time comes to unleash a deadly and accurate fusillade. Today, they are heavily involved in the greater Middle East. They tended to operate at night, and the troops called them “Spooky.” Whether they were known as “Spooky” or “Shadow” or “Stinger”-or more popularly, “Puff the Magic Dragon”-Vietnam-era AC-47s, AC-119s, and AC-130As wreaked havoc on enemy supply lines and kept the enemy from overrunning many isolated US military outposts. AC-47s were World War II-era C-47 transports fitted with an array of heavy armament and targeting gear. It first appeared in the 1960s, in the Vietnam War. The gunship is a relatively new airpower innovation. “There’s been no decision made to proceed with any other airframe.” Michael Nardo, gunship requirements officer and AC-130 instructor pilot at the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Fla. “There’s really nothing to report on that,” noted Lt. Although several studies on a “next generation gunship” were conducted-and a test program for a smaller platform proposed-there is no gunship program now on the books.

Air force gunship