AC-130 Gunship

The Lockheed AC-130 is a heavily armed, long-endurance ground-attack aircraft converted from the airframe of the C-130 Hercules military transport, its cargo hold replaced with a formidable array of cannons and other weapons fired sideways out of the aircraft's left side while it flies in a continuous banked turn around a fixed point on the ground. Its onboard weapons are linked to sophisticated sensor, navigation and fire-control systems that let the crew identify and engage ground targets with high precision even at night, and because the large, relatively slow-moving aircraft typically operates at altitudes around seven thousand feet to keep its targets within effective weapons range, it presents an inviting target to enemy air defenses and consequently flies most of its close air support missions after dark to reduce that vulnerability. The gunship concept, first developed from transport aircraft during the Vietnam War, has continued through successive AC-130 variants as a specialized, heavily armed platform for sustained close air support and force protection missions that prioritize firepower and loiter time over speed.