Saturday, January 27, 2018

The U.S. Airforce's Newest AC-130J Gunships Have A Problem With Their 30mm And 105mm Guns

AC-130J Ghostrider US Air Force

Warzone/The Drive: The USAF Still Can't Get The New AC-130J Ghostrider's 30mm Cannon To Work Reliably

A new Pentagon report says that gun routinely fails and that the plane's basic design also causes the 105mm shells on board to fall apart.

The U.S. Air Force says the first of its newest AC-130J Ghostrider gunships are ready for combat, just as soon as they can train enough crews to fly them. A new report from Pentagon’s top testing office says that while that assessment might be technically true, the aircraft’s 30mm and 105mm guns continue to suffer from poor accuracy, unreliable ammunition, and other significant issues.

Earlier in January 2018, the Pentagon’s Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, which oversees that work across the services, released its latest report, covering various testing activities during the 2017 fiscal year. This routine review touches on the progress of dozens of different weapons programs, including the AC-130J, highlighting both successes and failures.

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Update: The Air Force’s ‘Ultimate Battle Plane’ Has A Major Gun Problem (Task & Purpose)

WNU Editor: The US Air Force wants to buy 37 of these gunships.

2 comments:

jac said...

Lockheed again! I know the problem is not from the plane itself but the qualification of the components are the responsibility of the main order.

RussInSoCal said...

First I've heard about a problem with the 102 howitzer. That gun's been on the plane since the '60's. Might be faulty new ammo. If the 30mm is that Bushmaster unit, it's had trouble from the get go. It's accuracy is for crap.

The 25mm Gatlings were a thing of beauty. Build new ones. That work.