Boeing has started flight testing the AC-130U Gunship with the new Bushmaster 30 mm cannons at Hurlburt Field, Fla. The 30 mm cannons will eventually replace 40 mm cannons and 25 mm gun on the U-model.
Boeing is upgrading four of the gunships for U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command.
Back when the installation of the 30 mm cannon was completed in February, Lt. Col. Mike Gottstine, AFSOC's chief of strike, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance requirements, said in an Air Force press story that the Bushmaster fires 200 rounds a minute, faster than the 40 mm but slower than the 25 mm. But, Gottstine said the 30 mm doesn't scatter the "lead" quite as much as the 25 mm. "We're expecting increased lethality and increased accuracy with this weapon," he said. "Hits are what counts."
--Catherine MacRae Hockmuth
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