Lockheed AC-130

The Lockheed AC-130 gunship is a heavily armed, long-endurance, ground-attack version of the C-130 Hercules transport that carries ground-attack weapons tied into its sensors, navigation and fire-control systems. Lockheed Martin builds the airframe, while Boeing converts it into a gunship and supports the aircraft, and the United States Air Force has been its only operator, today flying the AC-130J Ghostrider. It was developed during the Vietnam War as Project Gunship II to replace the Douglas AC-47 Spooky, and it has since seen combat from Grenada and Panama to Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Its cabin is unpressurized with the weapons firing from the port side, so the aircraft flies a pylon turn in a large circle around a target, usually at night, to keep firing for far longer than a conventional strafing pass allows.