New gunship plan

From Air Force Times

New gunship plan: 8 modified MC-130Ws

By Sam LaGrone - Staff writer

Posted : Tuesday Jun 2, 2009 16:28:08 EDT

Special Operations Command plans to convert eight existing C-130 variants into multi-role gunships to support the wars in Iraq in Afghanistan.

As part of the fiscal 2010 budget, the Defense Department has set aside $31.6 million to begin equipping eight MC-130Ws with limited gunship capability, according to budget documents. The additional firepower will buttress the two dozen aging AC-130H/U Spectre and Spooky gunships, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told members of Congress during a May hearing. The AC-130s are in high demand in Iraq and Afghanistan for night-time flyovers.

According to the Defense Department’s special operations budget, existing MC-130s would be modified to include “an armed over-watch capability including sensors, communication systems, precision guided munitions and a single medium-caliber gun.”

Gunship recapitalization has rated high on Special Operations Command’s wish list, according to analyst Roger Carstens, a former Army special operator, in a paper titled “The Future of Special Operations Forces.”

The eight converted MC-130Ws would have a modular weapons system allowing the plane to be easily reconfigured for other special operations missions, unlike more traditional gunships with fixed gun positions, said Special Operations Command spokesman, Maj. Wes Ticer.

The MC-130W Combat Spear flies missions that include moving assets and troops in and out of forward areas and aerial refueling of special operations helicopters.

The latest plan to convert MC-130Ws is less ambitious than an earlier proposal to field a fleet of 16 C-27 gunships. The light-cargo Spartan would have been modified to act as a more agile companion to the existing fleet.

Those plans were scrapped after the C-27 original buy of 75 aircraft was cut in half and the Army was dropped from the joint program.

The new Air Force gunship plan has similarities with a bid from the Marine Corps to create its own modular gunship.

The Corps has is soliciting a contract with Lockheed Martin to develop the three Harvest Hawks, a KC-130J with a targeting sensor, operating station, Hellfire missiles and 30mm cannon, according to a proposal from Naval Air Systems Command.