Spitting Witch.
This is coolbert:
Listen to this excellent program from National Public Radio. ON the AC-130 gunship. That most formidable and uniquely American weapons system being used in Iraq. The jihadi enemy has a very healthy respect for the AC-130. Among themselves, the jihadi call this aircraft the "spitting witch".
Spits fire from the various weaponry [20 mm cannon, 40 mm cannon, 105 mm howitzer].
Supports the troops on the ground whenever support is needed. Can orbit for hours on end with tremendous reserves of fuel and ammo, continuous artificial light with flares, etc.
"In essence, the turboprop-driven craft is a flying battleship, a converted C-130 cargo plane with numerous Gatling and mini-guns; some even have a howitzer on board."
A FLYING BATTLESHIP!! With the most amazing array of sensors on-board. Infra-red, radar with/moving target indicator, low-level light night vision, etc. Troops on the ground have a direct commo link to the weapons officer [a woman USAF Captain in this particular instance] for instantaneous response when needed!!
[those headbands worn by U.S. Army troops over the helmet camouflage cover have two luminous dots on the back of the band. An AC-130 gunship at 8,000 feet can spot these dots with the on-board night vision equipment and know this is where American troops are at. DON'T SHOOT AT THOSE DOTS!!]
The AC-130 is another example of asymmetric warfare, this time being practiced by American forces. IT IS NOT ONLY THE INSURGENT THAT CAN EMPLOY ASYMMETRIC WARFARE TECHNIQUES!! The U.S. with this aircraft has a capability that gives it a huge advantage over the enemy, when the "flying battleship" CAN be employed. A weapon for which the jihadi has NO COUNTER!!
[the AC-130 was used successfully in El Salvador in the counter-insurgency environment. One insurgent commander said of the AC-130, "that thing killed a lot of our men!!"
Shoot-em' up, bang-bang, your dead!!!
coolbert.
2 Comments:
I dated a girl a few years ago whose father was in Viet Nam. He used to do the maintenance on these and other aircraft. In any event, he was telling me that the crew invited him to come along one night to see this plane in action. They went to shoot up trucks that were bringing supplies down from North Vietnam. He was able to watch on the TV screen as the plane just went down the line blowing up trucks. He told me that when the drivers toward the back of the truck column realized what was going on, he could see them jump out of the vehicles and run for their lives. He later said that was the only time he actually felt sorry for those "poor bastards" (his words).
My cousin who is in Iraq loves these things (I can imagine the rest of the soldiers there do too). He says it is like having God watching over you. I wonder if they are using the same planes from Viet Nam? They keep upgrading the B-52 so now the sons of the original pilots can still fly those things. Maybe it is the case with these C-130's too.
10:11 AM
I used to fly on the original Spectre gunships before we had TV and big guns and stuff. The 'A' models were all retired in the early or mid 90s. Now there are the 'E' and 'U' models flying.
Rich Silva
(104 missions)
8:47 PM
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