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AC-130H Firing
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Back in September 2006, DID ran an article titled “GD to Repackage A-10 Ammo for AC-130 Gunships”. As is so often the case, there’s a story behind the story. The USA’s fearsome AC-130U “Spooky” Hercules gunships are having their old 40mm Bofors cannons and 25mm GAU-12 gatling guns removed, and replaced with ATK’s 30mm MK44 autocannons. The same modifications are planned for the AC-130H “Specter” fleet, for the same reasons: maintenance issues, and gun/ammunition compatibility and variety. This USAF Air Force Link article explains:

“The aging 40 mm Bofors cannon, which has been around in various guises since World War II, is increasingly hard to maintain, Colonel Gottstine said, and there is no production line set up to replace shrinking ammunition stocks. While the 25 mm gun is newer, he said, “it is a maintenance hog as far as the amount of money and time we spend maintaining the ammo handling system.” In addition, because no other Air Force aircraft use the 25 mm cannon, no one is working on developing new types of ammunition that could be effective for gunship operations, he said.

The Bushmaster cannon, on the other hand, will arm the Marine Corps’ new amphibious assault vehicle, is installed on some Navy ships and is being looked at for uses in other capacities. Because of that, “the services are developing a lot of variations of 30 mm ammo….”

UPDATE: Accuracy trumps ammo. Aviation Week’s Ares and David Axe report that the 30mm guns have proven “operationally unsuitable” due to unsatisfactory gunfire accuracy. AFSOC is adding the 40mm and 25mm weapons back to the 4 AC-130Us delivered with the 30mm gun configuration.