News
from the
AC-119 Gunship Association
August 19, 2008
Page
Updated
January 30, 2010
"Stinger" Will
Fill Critical Need
The AC-27J, a light gunship modeled on the C-27J airlifter, is in the works for special operations forces to fill an "urgent and compelling requirement (Air Force Magazine, March)," according to Air Force Special Operations Command's requirements chief.
Brig.
Gen. Brad Heithold said in an interview Aug. 11 that the command
had completed a capabilities development document in early July,
around the same time both the Air Force and US Special Operations
Command submitted their Fiscal 2010 program objective memoranda.
The AC-27J "Stinger" is now a program of record. The
new aircraft will differ from AFSOC's current AC-130 gunships in
that it will be a multi-role airplane, Heithold said. "It
will have kill mechanisms on the airplane, but it will be able
to infil[trate] and exfil[trate] a small team," he explained. "One
day it might be doing an infil, and the next it might be shooting
for that team." The new gunship will also feature full-motion
video capability.
As of today, AFSOC plans to acquire nine aircraft, the first in Fiscal
2011, Heithold said. Two additional gunships would be purchased each
year from 2012 to 2015, but there is an initiative in the works at
the Pentagon that would expand the program to 16 aircraft and accelerate
delivery, he said.
AFSOC
programmers have dubbed the program "Stinger" as an homage
to an earlier gunship, the Vietnam-era AC-119K, Heithold noted.
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