Gunship Lite

Written by Peter A. Buxbaum

Precision firepower from an aerial platform has always been a force multiplier. Various special operations commands have favored a program to produce a gunship smaller than the AC-130 fleet, but those plans are currently in question.

So it should come as no surprise that Air Force Special Operations Command has been shopping around for a new gunship that would provide close support to ground forces. For years, the Air Force has been emphasizing the acquisition of next-generation fighters and bombers, while allowing its fleet of smaller gunships, the AC-130 Stingers, first deployed in Vietnam in 1969, to age to the point where they need to be replaced.

The AC-130s are seeing a lot of action in Iraq and Afghanistan because they are good at spotting and killing the irregular forces the U.S. military is chasing across vast desert expanses.

Published reports indicate that, as part of a program sometimes unofficially referred to as Gunship Lite, AFSOC had settled on a trials platform for what has been dubbed the AC-27J, also known as the Stinger II, an aircraft based on the C-27J Spartan—a medium tactical airlifter designed for troop and cargo movements as well as medevac operations, and manufactured by Alenia Aeronautica, an Italian aircraft manufacturer. AFSOC has reportedly purchased a C-27J and had it outfitted as a gunship in the United States by L-3 Communications and Boeing.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy is proceeding with a classified program to field a small air gunship that would also support irregular warfare operations. Navy sources told Special Operations Technology that such an aircraft will be based on the Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano air frame. Embraer, or Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA, is a Brazil-based manufacturer.

The Navy’s small gunship program is considered a “joint technology demonstration effort,” according to Navy spokesman Lieutenant Clayton Doss.

“The Navy has a strong and growing involvement in irregular warfare, both in today’s fights and in developments for the future,” said Doss. “Initial developmental testing has been promising, and the Navy is currently conducting discussions with our joint partners on various courses of action as this initiative moves forward.” The C-27J, is a twin turboprop, which has already been purchased by the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army for airlift operations. Four other NATO countries have also bought the plane from Alenia Aeronautica. In the U.S. market L-3 Integrated Systems is the C-27J prime contractor, which also includes Alenia Aeronautica, Boeing and GMAS.

The C-27 Spartan was first acquired by the Air Force in 1990, but was discontinued in 1999 for financial reasons. The Army began acquiring C-27s in 2005, as part of its Future Cargo Aircraft program. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee last year, Admiral Eric Olson, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, described Gunship Lite as “an integration effort to determine the art of the possible,” involving the mounting of guns on a C-27 and flying in patterns designed to provide quick response to troops “with the surgical precision that we’ve come to expect from the AC-130.”

The Air Force wants the kind of firepower mounted on the C-27 that could take out a truck or tank, a mission that calls for a 25 mm to a 40 mm weapon.

As Olson’s comments suggested, the Air Force has been satisfied with the performance of the AC-130 but views its cost, at $190 million a pop, as a concern. Converting the smaller C-27J into a gunship will reduce the acquisition costs for a small gunship, so the theory goes.

The AC-130s, because of their age, are also driving up maintenance costs. A report on the CBS Evening News earlier this year quoted one pilot as saying that for every hour of flying, the gunship requires 14 hours of maintenance.

The Navy’s chosen platform, Embraer’s Super Tucano, was built with today’s conflicts in mind, according to its manufacturer.

“The end of the Cold War gave rise to new threats, which were previously dormant and which could not always be satisfactorily dealt with through high-performance vectors,” noted Embraer’s Website. “This was particularly true in regards to territories with extensive and relatively porous borders.”

The Super Tucano was developed, according to Embraer, “to deal with current and future military fight training requirements and also deployable in scenarios that do not fit high-performance combat aircraft.”

HARVEST HAWK

Based on an urgent universal needs statement in support of U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, NAVAIR of Patuxent River, Md., is working a project to develop persistent combat ISR capabilities with inherent means to engage identified targets from a KC-130J. While this is an armed aircraft, it is not necessarily being referred to as a gunship. NAVAIR spokesperson Rob Koon said as much, “This is not about making a gunship; however, it reflects the natural progression in special mission capability of this airframe outlined in the operational requirements document.”

This is a new start program with $51.7 million allocated in the budget. In the presolicitation document, NAVAIR stated that Lockheed Martin was “uniquely qualified to meet the USMC summer 2009 deployment schedule.” The modifications are to include a targeting sensor, operating station, stand-off precision-guided munitions, Hellfire missiles and a 30 mm cannon.

The KC-130J’s primary mission for the Marines is the aerial refueling of fixed wing, rotary wing and tilt-rotor aircraft. The addition of what are intended as modular mission kits are not expected to detract from that mission. “These modular mission kits are intended to complement, not replace, that primary mission,” said Koon.

The solicitation noted an intention to award Lockheed a sole source contract for three aircraft modifications. According to Koon, the Marines are interested in a minimum of three aircraft with a maximum of nine aircraft dependent on available funding. Initially, tentatively, Headquarters Marine Corps is looking at three rapidly configurable systems per KC-130J squadron.

The ability to reach out and touch an enemy is another capability that will set these KC-130Js apart from the others. The program office is considering a variety of options to arm the platform. Two that have been mentioned include a 30 mm gun mount and the use of Hellfire missiles.

When asked whether the gun mount would be similar to that on the AC-130U, Koon said no, that the “30 mm gun mount is still in the prototype stage.”

As for the Hellfires, if carried, the plan is to mount them outboard of the left hand external fuel tank, mounted where the aerial refueling pod is usually located, using standard Hellfire launchers.

Details on other armament options have not been released at this point but are under consideration. ♦

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