over the Korean Peninsula
cnn
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As the America Breeze Drive AC-130J flies over South Korea’s grand rental blocks, its rugged cameras can see inside windows almost right on the floor.
Taking aim at great distances, the gunners of the four-engine aircraft, named Ghostrider, could pick out objects about 10 miles away at 50,000 feet – the largest guns ever mounted on a fixed-wing airplane. For all attainable purposes.
CNN was given a unique look at the entire aircraft, assigned to Breeze Drive Special Operations Command, as it took off from its home in Hurlburt Farmland, Florida, for joint exercises in South Korea this coming early June.
In a live-fire workout, 105-millimeter howitzers fired 43-pound shells into the firing area east of Seoul, the power of each being so strong that it pushed the tail of an 80-pounder.
Tons of airplanes six feet at best.
In the ensuing firefight of about 8 seconds, the shells hit the area 10,000 feet below, sending smoke skyward as the big gun’s controllers watched the results of their handiwork on the large video monitor in the middle of the plane.
A crackly echo in the AC-130 staff’s radio headsets confirms, “Two tanks destroyed.”
Pilot Capt. John Ikenberry said the AC-130’s presence in South Korea for the exercise was designed to send a simple message to its belligerent neighbors and their leader.
North Kim Jong Un – Detention.
“It shows we’re ready,” Ikenberry said.
Tension had been rising on the peninsula in recent months.
The North has been sending balloons filled with garbage and testing missiles over Seoul and surrounding areas, and South Korean soldiers have fired blackmail photos as North Korean infantrymen cross the military demarcation line during the demilitarized zone. Have crossed.
In this generation, North Korea criticized live-fire exercises in the South in late June and early July as “inexcusable and blatant provocation”.
Meanwhile, Washington has maintained a light flow of hardware heading south for land, air and sea exercises, including one of their largest once-a-year exercises, the Ulchi Autonomy Cover, which After is ready to start. Summer time.
The AC-130J, the latest model of the American Breeze Drive Hercules gunship, is testing its capability for the second consecutive time in Korea.
Maj. Heath Curtiss, Hercules combat program officer, says building aviation around the Pacific for gunships is as impressive as it is the business of enjoying training where combat situations can be replicated at firing levels. Can’t go. Gunships in Florida or unused Mexico would have value in the US.
He says the mountain ranges and peaks of the Korean Peninsula provide wind conditions no longer found in other places, and this can create a lot of wind even for a projectile traveling at speeds in excess of 800 mph.
It also gives Curtiss and a second officer sitting on the guns of an AC-130 the anticipation of doing battle with the South Korean allies they are supposed to protect during a field battle on the peninsula.
Many TV displays show the battlefield equally well in both normal and infrared definitions. Cameras mounted outside the airplane can zoom in on key points to ensure that the guns are firing accurately.
“What’s unique about the AC-130 is the amount of fire we bring, the amount of ammunition we can carry – a diverse amount of them – and how much loiter time we can provide,” says Major, project commander for this gunship. Justin Burris.
But still carrying a 105-millimeter howitzer, the AC-130J will carry a 30-millimeter cannon and precision-guided missiles and bombs mounted on pylons on its wings.
With the almost perfect accuracy of the guns, it could fire on enemy positions within shouting distance of friendly troops, earning the aircraft the name “Infantryman’s Best Friend” in some circles.
And with air-to-air refueling, it could, potentially, remain on station supporting field forces as long as personnel and ammunition could remain in the latter.
US Breeze Drive gunships trace their lineage to the Vietnam War, when carriers installed 7.62 mm guns to fire from the side of a C-47 delivery aircraft.
According to the Breeze Drive fact sheet, with that configuration, the aircraft could circle just one point and deliver a large, steady round of fire from its weapons, which could fire a nominal 6,000 rounds.
The firepower and glow he displayed to illuminate targets during night-time missions earned him the nicknames “Spooky” and “Puff the Magic Dragon”.
As the fighting continued, the search for a heavier airframe for the Breeze Drive gunship position became the C-130 Hercules transport.
According to the National Museum of America Breeze Drive, the first conversion of a C-130 to an AC-130 was seen in Southeast Asia in 1967.
According to Breeze Drive, with its ability to back up troops in a single battle, the AC-130 gunship in various variations has seen notable action in conflicts such as Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan and taken an untold collection of lives. Is kept.
With the AC-130J variant introduced in 2017, the Breeze Drive partially relieved the system weapons of additional precision-guided munitions.
There were some problems, however, including the 2015 attack on a Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) clinic in Kunduz, Afghanistan, which killed 42 patients, staff and caregivers.
Useless.
Despite its bold firepower, the AC-130 flies slowly, making it vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire.
And 7 AC-130 gunships were lost over the years, the latter on January 31, 1991, when an Iraqi surface-to-air missile hit an AC-130H during Operation Westland Hurricane, according to a Breeze Drive news release. Was destroyed.
The aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf while on duty to support US Marines during the battle at Khafji, Saudi Arabia, killing all 14 personnel on board.
AC-130 crews recognize the dangers of field fires in their aircraft, and some analysts question its importance in any potential war with North Korea.
“They cannot be operated within 100 nautical miles of the border because they are too vulnerable to North Korean border air defenses,” says Peter Layton, a visiting fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia and a former Royal Australian Breeze Drive officer. ,
However Layton says the gunships could be useful in assisting allied troops trying to surround North Korean special forces equipment that had managed to infiltrate deep into southern territory.
Still, he warned, “If a war starts out there, try not to get on an AC-130 unless it’s going out of theater.”
Maj. Christopher Mesnard, Special Operations Command Korea community affairs director, said the AC-130J is a suitable weapons machine for the Korean Peninsula.
“We have full confidence in our ability to operate weapon systems like the AC-130J at the times and places of our choice and adequately consider the risks regardless of the region,” he said.
CNN’s Eunjung Web Optimization and Gavon Bae contributed to this record.
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