The Only Plane Terrorists Fear the Most

[pallidin]

 

[pallidin]

The devastating Lockheed AC-130 gunship. Feared by all...

[Kenemet]

Okay, I'll bite.

Terrorists are individuals who strike at random times and at random (predetermined) targets.  They scurry out of the dark like rats, strike, and are gone.

Many of them commit suicide.

Can you explain how/why they would fear this plane?  I would think that by the time they hurried the crew onto the plane and got the plane into the air and to its destination that the terrorists are long gone.

[AnchorSteam]

36 minutes ago, Kenemet said:

Can you explain how/why they would fear this plane? 

Because a Terrorist movement does not solely consist of ex-human beings who were completely normal until the moment they decided to strap on a bomb and hope for the best kill-ratio they could buy with one good blast.

 

There are recruiters, mainly found in Mosques, that are gathering up those suicidally-inclined losers and arming them. They in turn are paid & supplied by masters such as Osama bint-Loudmouth used to be. They in turn operate through networks of tribal supporters (many of whom are blackmailed, but the number of freely enthusiastic supporters is staggering) spead out over vast areas of rough terrain.

 

Everything comes from somewhere, and terrorist indoctrination, supply and funding is no exception.

 

Now, to reach one of those places and nail a Leader that has just been pinpointed, you have few choices; expose your Commandos to something that could well be a trap (Yemen) , or send in some missiles that could well be a serious example of over-kill.... or you could use this baby. With it's high loiter-time (it can stay up for a long time) and it's guns, it can be a very exacting weapon system. The guns you see above are a 105mm Howitzer, it fires one shot at a time, and each one weights about 40 pounds instead of a half-ton missile. The smaller one is a 40mm Bofors, very reliable as it has been in service in one form or another since WW2... and that baby can go rapid-fire to deal with unexpectedly large target-areas.

You know, just in case your first shot causes 100 bad-guys with guns to come running out the doors.

 

Good enough?

Edited November 14, 2017 by AnchorSteam

[Farmer77]

43 minutes ago, Kenemet said:

Okay, I'll bite.

Terrorists are individuals who strike at random times and at random (predetermined) targets.  They scurry out of the dark like rats, strike, and are gone.

Many of them commit suicide.

Can you explain how/why they would fear this plane?  I would think that by the time they hurried the crew onto the plane and got the plane into the air and to its destination that the terrorists are long gone.

Because despite the facts and what not for a very large percentage of our society the term terrorist has evolved to mean brown skinned non Christians  

[Space Commander Travis]

3 hours ago, Kenemet said:

Okay, I'll bite.

Terrorists are individuals who strike at random times and at random (predetermined) targets.  They scurry out of the dark like rats, strike, and are gone.

Many of them commit suicide.

Can you explain how/why they would fear this plane?  I would think that by the time they hurried the crew onto the plane and got the plane into the air and to its destination that the terrorists are long gone.

it's the old rule, whoever you kill, call them a terrorist. It's the same with drones; that;'s why they're so effective, since everyone in a hundred yard radius of what it hits automatically (posthumously) becomes labelled a terrorist.   

[Space Commander Travis]

Anyway, I'd say an A-10 was more effective, certainly much less vulnerable if there might be any chance of anyone shooting back.

[preacherman76]

4 hours ago, Farmer77 said:

Because despite the facts and what not for a very large percentage of our society the term terrorist has evolved to mean brown skinned non Christians  

The brush might be big, but it isn't that big.

[Gromdor]

I have to ask. How can they have it be the only plane they fear and at the same time fear it the most?

[Kenemet]

16 hours ago, Manfred von Dreidecker said:

Anyway, I'd say an A-10 was more effective, certainly much less vulnerable if there might be any chance of anyone shooting back.

I'd rule for a drone, actually.  Easier to get into the air, able to target more individually, harder to tell that it's coming (as opposed to a big airplane that everyone can hide from.)

I find it hard to believe they'd fear any aircraft.  However, I'm a non-combatant and not an aficionado of military hardware or war games (as a military brat, I grew up around this stuff.)  and I don't talk to anyone who would have a real insight into what they fear (in other words, people connected with the terrorists who have an idea of what they believe.  I hear all sorts of things from my side of the pond about what people believe the terrorists are like, but they tend to be ideas that enforce what a huge global power the US is and how any action like tossing pigs at them will cause disgust and fear... and I know that this is actually not true.)

[aztek]

lol, they fear nothing. cool plane thou

[Agent0range]

I think the OP meant to say Taliban, or foreign fighters.  And if that's the case, it's true.  When they hear an AC-130 overhead, they stop firing small arms, mortars, RPG's, recoiless rifles, whatever their weapon of choice is, and run.  They don't run from a drone, because they can't see or hear it, and the warthog is so rare to have overhead, most don't even know what it is, until it's too late.

[pallidin]

On 11/13/2017 at 9:44 PM, Kenemet said:

I would think that by the time they hurried the crew onto the plane and got the plane into the air and to its destination that the terrorists are long gone.

To answer your question...

The gunship is already "there" in many cases, in loitering assist, circling outside of the target area.

When it's called into action it can either directly fire from its distance, or simply move closer in a very short time.

These gunships are not "dispatch attack" platforms. They are "loiter attack" platforms.

 

[AnchorSteam]

1 hour ago, pallidin said:

These gunships are not "dispatch attack" platforms. They are "loiter attack" platforms.

 

That is the point that these armchair generals are not getting.

A missile is fired and goes straight to the target, just one target, and it is either a hit or a miss, and you hear about it for days from the enemy within whenever you kill anyone that could be called innocent (merely supporters, not active terrorists or Taliban) gets clipped. 

The A-10 can spend, at most, about an hour in the target area, and that is only if there is a base in the region.

The AC-130 can spend half a day in the air. You can spend all the time you need to verify the target, and since you are right there you can also react much more quickly than weapons based a thousand miles away. With a ceiling of 30,000 feet, they don't have to be heard by anyone on the ground until it is time to attack.

The latest version can carry everything a drone can, plus a whole lot more (and they can't be tricked by anyone a half-step ahead of us in software, like a Drone can)

 

 

Quote

 

AC-130W Stinger II / AC-130J Ghostrider^[27]

• 1× 30 mm ATK GAU-23/A autocannon^[83]
• 1× 105 mm M102 howitzer (AC-130J Ghostrider only as of 2017)^[84][85][86]
• 'Gunslinger' weapons system with launch tube for AGM-176 Griffin missiles and/or GBU-44/B Viper Strike munitions (10 round magazines)^[4]
• Wing mounted, AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs (SDBs) and/or GBU-53/B SDB IIs^[4] (4 per hardpoint on BRU-61/A rack)^[87][88]

 

•  

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2017 by AnchorSteam

[Space Commander Travis]

20 minutes ago, AnchorSteam said:

The AC-130 can spend half a day in the air. You can spend all the time you need to verify the target, and since you are right there you can also react much more quickly than weapons based a thousand miles away. With a ceiling of 30,000 feet, they don't have to be heard by anyone on the ground until it is time to attack.

what if there's someone who might be able to shoot back? It's a nice big fat slow moving target isn't it.

[pallidin]

6 minutes ago, Manfred von Dreidecker said:

what if there's someone who might be able to shoot back? It's a nice big fat slow moving target isn't it.

There are anti-missile flares and, normally, support attack aircrafts to defend the awesome AC-130 gunship.

Theater involvement of an AC-130 is such that it is rarely alone.

Much like a Navy aircraft carrier is supported by Navy destroyers, fighter jets and such.

[aztek]

Just now, Manfred von Dreidecker said:

what if there's someone who might be able to shoot back? It's a nice big fat slow moving target isn't it.

unless russia supplies isis with SFAAM, like we did to mujaheddins during ussr afgan war, those planes are pretty safe.  they fly high enough to be safe from machine gun fire, even a hit from soviet  23mm aa gun may not bring it down that easy.

not going into details, but i would be more concerned about drones, nowadays drones can fly as high as 14k feet, and reach 150+mph. and they can carry some weight.  this plane when in combat mode, flies at about 1,5-2 miles, at speed of about 170mph

Edited November 15, 2017 by aztek

[Princess Serenity]

This bad boy should fly over the Middle East constantly.