Editing Lockheed AC-130 (section)

===Cold War and later action===
[[File:AC-130A pylon turn.jpg|thumb|An AC-130A performs a left-hand pylon turn.]]

With the conclusion of hostilities in Southeast Asia in the mid-1970s, the AC-130H became the sole gunship in the regular Air Force, home based at Hurlburt Field, Florida, while the AC-130A fleet was transferred to the Air Force Reserve's 919th Tactical Airlift Group (919 TAG) at [[Eglin AFB]] Auxiliary Field #3/[[Duke Field]], Florida. With the transition to the AC-130A, the 919 TAG was then redesignated as the [[919th Special Operations Wing |919th Special Operations Group]].

In the late 1970s, when the AC-130H fleet was first being modified for in-flight refueling capability, a demonstration mission was planned and flown from Hurlburt Field, Florida, nonstop, to conduct a 2-hour live-fire mission over Empire Firing Range in the Republic of Panama, then return home. This 13-hour mission with two in-flight refuelings from [[Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker|KC-135]] tankers proved the validity of flying long-range missions outside the [[contiguous United States]] to attack targets then return to home base without intermediate stops.

AC-130s from both the [[4th Special Operations Squadron|4th]] and [[16th Special Operations Squadron|16th]] Special Operations Squadrons have been deployed in nearly every conflict in which the United States has been involved, officially and unofficially, since the end of the Vietnam War.

In July 1979, AC-130H crews deployed to [[Howard Air Force Base]], Panama, as a precaution against possible hostile actions against American personnel during the [[Nicaraguan Revolution]]. New time aloft and nonstop distance records were subsequently set by a 16th SOS two-ship AC-130H formation flight that departed Hurlburt Field on 13 November 1979 and landed on 15 November at [[Andersen Air Force Base]], [[Guam]], a distance of {{convert |7200|nmi|km}} and 29 hours 43 minutes nonstop, refueling four times in-flight.<ref>Lockheed records.</ref>{{Page needed |date=December 2023}}<ref>{{Citation |type= news |first= Pilot Lt Col Jim |last= Lawrence |date=June 1995 |title= ?? |newspaper= Night Flyer|publisher= AFSOC}}</ref> Refueling support for the Guam deployment was provided by KC-135 crews from the 305th Air Refueling Wing from [[Grissom AFB]], Indiana.

In November 1979, four AC-130H gunships flew nonstop from Hurlburt Field to Anderson AFB, Guam, because of the [[Iran hostage crisis|hostage situation at the US Embassy in Iran]]. On Guam, AC-130H crews developed communications-out/lights-out refueling procedures for later employment by trial-and-error. This deployment with the 1 SOW/CC as task force commander was directed from the office of the CJCS for fear that Iranian militants could begin executing American Embassy personnel who had been [[Iran hostage crisis|taken hostage on 4 November]]. One early option considered AC-130H retaliatory punitive strikes deep within Iran. Later gunship flights exceeded the 1979 Hurlburt-to-Guam flight. Upon return in March 1980, the four planes soon found themselves in Egypt to support the [[Operation Eagle Claw|ill-fated hostage rescue attempt]].

[[File:AC-130 gunship firing broadside at dusk.jpg|thumb|left|Smoke visible from [[rotary cannon]] during twilight operations in 1988]]
During [[Invasion of Grenada|Operation Urgent Fury]] in Grenada in 1983, AC-130s suppressed enemy air-defense systems and attacked ground forces enabling the assault of the [[Point Salines International Airport|Point Salines Airfield]] via [[airdrop]] and air-land of friendly forces. The AC-130 aircrew earned the [[William H. Tunner |Lieutenant General William H. Tunner]] Award for the mission.

The AC-130Hs of the [[16th Special Operations Squadron]] unit maintained an ongoing rotation to Howard AB, Panama, monitoring activities in El Salvador and other Central American points of interest, with rules of engagement eventually permitting attacks on [[FMLN]] targets. This commitment of maintainers and crews started in 1983 and lasted until 1990.<ref>{{cite web|last= Cooper|first= Tom |title= El Salvador, 1980–1992|url= http://www.acig.info/CMS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=89&Itemid=47|publisher= ACIG|access-date= 30 January 2013|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140116083135/http://www.acig.info/CMS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=89&Itemid=47|archive-date= 16 January 2014|url-status= live}}</ref> The AC-130 is considered to have hastened the end of the [[Salvadoran Civil War]] in the 1980s. Crews flew undercover missions from Honduras and attacked guerrilla camps and concentrations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=C-130 versions |url=https://www.c-130.net/c-130-versions-article3.html |access-date= 2023-04-12 |website= C-130.net}}</ref>

AC-130s also had a primary role during the [[United States invasion of Panama]] (named Operation Just Cause) in 1989, when they destroyed [[Military of Panama |Panama Defense Force]] headquarters and numerous command-and-control facilities, and provided close air support for US ground troops. Aircrews earned the [[Mackay Trophy]] for the most meritorious flight of the year, and the Tunner Award.