
U.S. Air Force’s ‘Ultimate Battle Plane’ Has A Major Gun Problem
In the five years since the Air Force converted an MC-130J Combat Shadow II into a next-generation AC-130J Ghostrider ground-attack aircraft, Air Force Special Operations Command hasn’t been able to stop bulking up the airframe’s weapons systems. They added a 105mm cannon and are even considering the future installation of a frickin’ laser beam to make the Ghostrider “the ultimate battle plane” for close air support; the Ghostrider’s muscular arsenal has led AFSOC officials to call it “a bomb truck with guns on it.” But a new Pentagon report reveals a serious problem with this truck’s guns. Buried in a January 2018 after-action from the DoD’s Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (and flagged by our friends at The War Zone) is a relatively alarming assessment of the Ghostrider: The aircraft’s fire control systems “performed inconsistently when accounting for changing ballistic conditions” like shifts in altitude and ambient wind; those factors frequently required in-flight recalibrations to ensure the gun and mount actually remained on target.