by Poetrooper<\/p>\n
When my unit was calling in gunships for close air support, those birds were usually old C-47\u2019s, hold-over troop transports from WWII, armed and configured for this new mission. Sometime after I left Vietnam, that gunship role was taken over by the C-130 Hercules, an aircraft I knew as the best jumping platform available during the time I served in Airborne units. The venerable \u201cHerc\u201d has continued that role, providing CAS for American troops around the world. During that half-century of service the Herc has undergone many metamorphoses, but never in my wildest dreams did I think it might become a bomber. And yet, that is precisely what has happened in the latest iteration of this incredibly endurable fighting platform. As this official Air Force description sheet shows, the new AC-130J, Ghostrider, which is supposed to go fully operational this year, has, among its fearsome armament, GBU-39, small diameter bombs but also AGM-176 Griffin, air-to-ground missiles. And other articles out there indicate that laser weapons are in the future of the Ghost.<\/span><\/p>\n Back in the early 60\u2019s, I spent many an hour lounging beside airstrips, leaning back on my chute and equipment, closely eyeballing C-130\u2019s as I waited to board them for another jump. To this kid from Oklahoma they were a wondrous thing with that unique turboprop whine that I can hear in my mind as I write this. But never in all those hours of contemplation did I ever imagine that those aircraft would someday be dropping bombs on and firing missiles at enemy targets in the Middle East fifty years later.<\/span><\/p>\n