Special ops airmen get fewer new gunships than promised (Defense News)

Special ops airmen get fewer new gunships than promised – By Rachel S. Cohen (Defense News) / Nov 10, 2022

Editor’s note: This story was updated Nov. 10 at 8:52 p.m. with additional information from Air Force Special Operations Command.

The Pentagon has quietly cut procurement of its new AC-130J Ghostrider special operations gunships, downsizing the fleet from 37 to 30.

U.S. Special Operations Command originally planned to buy nearly 40 Ghostriders to replace three older gunships: the AC-130H Spectre, AC-130W Stinger II and AC-130U Spooky. Each of those 37 aircraft are now retired.

Rather than swap out the airframes one-for-one as expected, SOCOM wants to end the decade-long AC-130J acquisition seven short of the full program.

SOCOM tucked mentions of the change into its fiscal 2023 budget request, writing that it would maintain a total of 30 AC-130Js. Each airframe costs $165 million apiece, according to an Air Force fact sheet.

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