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Combat aircraftIn service (AC-130J)Profile in progress
Ground-attack aircraft and close air support gunship for SOF teams
Lockheed AC-130 is a ground-attack aircraft and close air support gunship for SOF teams originating in United States. It was built by Lockheed Martin Boeing. Reported operators include United States Air Force.
United StatesLockheed AC-130
MSgt Christopher Boitz · Public domain · Resized · Public domain · Source ↗ · Modifieden.wikipedia.org ↗ · Field absent
Checked 30 Sept 2026Recorded cached-source extraction and article inspection. No matching scoped field was extracted; this is not a claim that all five sources were checked.
Retained English infobox, specifications and article text
Lockheed AC-130 An AC-130J gunship from the 4th Special Operations Squadron General information Type Ground-attack aircraft and close air support gunship for SOF teams National origin United States Manufacturer Lockheed Martin Boeing Status In service (AC-130J) Primary user United States Air Force H
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en.wikipedia.org ↗ · Field absent
Checked 30 Sept 2026Recorded cached-source extraction and article inspection. No matching scoped field was extracted; this is not a claim that all five sources were checked.
Retained English infobox, specifications and article text
Lockheed AC-130 An AC-130J gunship from the 4th Special Operations Squadron General information Type Ground-attack aircraft and close air support gunship for SOF teams National origin United States Manufacturer Lockheed Martin Boeing Status In service (AC-130J) Primary user United States Air Force H
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Ground-attack aircraft and close air support gunship for SOF teams
United States
Lockheed Martin Boeing
In service (AC-130J)
United States Air Force
AC-130A: 1968 AC-130H: 1969 AC-130U: 1995 AC-130W: 2012 AC-130J: 2017
AC-130A: 1967
AC-130A: 1995 AC-130H: 2015 AC-130U: 2020 AC-130W: 2022
Lockheed C-130 Hercules Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules
7 Officers: 4 (Two Pilots, Two Combat Systems Officers) Enlisted: 3 (Special Mission Aviators)
97 ft 9 in (29.79 m)
132 ft 7 in (40.41 m)
38 ft 6 in (11.73 m)
1,745.5 sq ft (162.16 m 2 )
155,000 lb (70,307 kg)
4 × Allison T56 -A-15 turboprop engine, 4,300 shp (3,200 kW) each (AC-130U)
362 kn (416 mph, 669 km/h)
39,000 ft (12,000 m)
4 (Two Pilots, Two Combat Systems Officers)
3 (Special Mission Aviators)
6-bladed Dowty R391 featuring ARA-D/A airfoils
Teledyne Ryan (now part of Northrop Grumman ) AN/APN-218 radar – doppler navigation radar
AN/APN-59 radar – search and weather radar
Raytheon AN/APQ-180 multimode attack radar – enhanced version of AN/APG-70 radar (used on F-15E Strike Eagle ) incorporating several enhanced air-to-ground modes such as fixed target track, ground moving target indication and track, projectile impact point position, beacon track, and a weather detection Raytheon AN/AAQ-26 IDS – LWIR FLIR (mounted on port side of the nose landing gear door) Lockheed Martin AN/AAQ-39 Gunship Multispectral Sensor System (GMS2) – EO/IR fire control system consists of mid-wave infrared (MWIR) FLIR, two Image-Intensified Television (I2TV) cameras ( CCD-TV ), laser target designator/rangefinder with eyesafe mode (1064 and 1570 nm dual mode laser emitter), and near-infrared (NIR) laser pointer/marker (860 nm laser emitter) (mounted under the nose of port landing gear sponson)
Raytheon AN/ALR-69 – digital Radar warning receiver (RWR) L-3 Communications AN/AAR-44 – UV-based Missile Approach Warning System (MAWS) ITT Exelis AN/ALQ-172 – Digital radio frequency memory (DRFM) jammer-based Electronic countermeasure (ECM) incorporating integrated Electronic Warfare (EW) self-protection function of detection, processing, warning, prioritization, jamming, and threat display BAE Systems AN/ALQ-196 Low-Band Jammer (LBJ) – low frequency DRFM jammer-based ECM Northrop Grumman AN/AAQ-24 Nemesis – laser-based Directional Infrared Counter Measures (DIRCM) (mounted on the port and starboard rear fuselage) BAE Systems AN/ALE-47 Countermeasure Dispensing System (CMDS) – chaff/flare dispenser
Reference text from Wikipedia contributors, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
True scale
Sourced dimensions beside a 1.75 m human reference.
Points represent sourced observations, including revisions. Revisions on the same effective date are not separate inventory events. Ranges appear in the table and are not plotted as exact points.
| Observation / report period | Value | Source | Claim state |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Sept 2026 | 29.79 m | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 29.79 m | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 29.79 m | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 29.79 m | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 29.79 m | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 29.79 m | Wikipedia contributors | approved |
Lockheed AC-130 equipment records. Variants, orders and quantities are shown as reported in each inventory source; coverage is incomplete.
United StatesAir Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) exact named equipment holdings: AC-130J Ghostrider. Active, operational-reserve and training units excluding equipment in store; November 2025 IISS assessment. Named service only; no parent-force or national total inferred. Source role: AIRCRAFT / ATK. Original estimates, ranges, reporting names, reserve, lease and employment scopes retained; nested included counts are not added. Missile-system quantities mean launchers, not rounds. No readiness, crew, carried weapon, payload, factory-production or future order count inherited.
Reported count for AC-130J Ghostrider. Service scope: Air Force; does not replace a national total. 1 distinct count cell(s) from the same source list; shared rowspan cells counted once. Retired, wholly reserve and on-order rows are excluded; the reported count retains any explicitly mixed stock scope in the quoted row. Count column(s): inventory: 31. Origin: USA. The listed variants/roles are the scope, not an immediately deployable count. Dates are the count-cell citations' stated source period (2022), not the article revision. Cited source 2022-11-03. Edition or publication years do not claim an exact inventory census day.