Editing Lockheed AC-130 (section)

==Design==
[[File:Ac130 gunship.jpg|thumb|Underside of an AC-130U Spooky]]

===Overview===
The AC-130 is a heavily armed, long-endurance aircraft carrying an array of weapons against ground targets that are integrated with sophisticated sensors, navigation, and fire-control systems. It is capable of delivering precision firepower or area-saturation fire over a target area over a long period of time, at night, or in adverse weather. The sensor suite consists of an electro-optical image sensor, [[infrared]] sensor, and [[radar]]. These sensors allow the gunship to visually or electronically identify friendly ground forces and targets in most weather conditions.

The AC-130U is equipped with the [[AN/APQ-180]], a [[synthetic aperture radar]], for long-range target detection and identification. The gunship's navigational devices include [[inertial navigation system]]s and a [[global positioning system]]. The AC-130U employs technologies developed in the 1990s, which allow it to attack two targets simultaneously. It has twice the [[Ammunition|munitions]] capacity of the AC-130H.<ref name="Boe_AC-130U" /> Although the AC-130U conducts some operations in daylight, most of its combat missions are conducted at night.<ref>Naylor, Sean. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Jz4zjLuvZsUC ''Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216104304/https://books.google.com/books?id=Jz4zjLuvZsUC |date=16 February 2017}}, pp. 425. Berkley Books, 2005. {{ISBN|0-425-19609-7}}. Retrieved 6 April 2009.</ref> The AC-130H's unit cost is US$132.4&nbsp;million, and the AC-130U's cost is $190&nbsp;million (fiscal 2001 dollars).<ref name="AC-130HU_factsht 2009"/>

===Upgrades===
[[File:AC-130U Sensor Operator.jpg|thumb|left|AC-130U sensor suite]]
During the Vietnam War era, the various AC-130 versions following the Pave Pronto modifications were equipped with a [[magnetic anomaly detector]] system called Black Crow (designated AN/ASD-5), a highly sensitive passive device with a [[phased-array]] [[Antenna (radio)|antenna]] located in the left-front nose [[radome]] that could pick up localized deviations in the [[Earth's magnetic field]] normally used to detect submerged [[submarine]]s. The Black Crow system was [[master/slave (technology)|slaved]] into the targeting computers of the AC-130A/E/H, enabling the detection of the unshielded [[ignition coil]]s of North Vietnamese trucks hidden under dense jungle foliage along the [[Ho Chi Minh trail]]. It could also detect hand-held transmitter signals of air controllers on the ground to identify and locate targets.

The PGM-38/U enhanced 25&nbsp;mm [[high-explosive incendiary]] round was created to expand the AC-130U gunships' mission in standoff range and survivability for its 25&nbsp;mm [[GAU-12 Equalizer|GAU-12/U]] gun. This round is a combination of the existing PGU-25 HEI and a M758 fuze designated as FMU-151/B to meet the MIL-STD-1316. The FMU-151 has an improved arming delay with multisensitive range.<ref>"PGU-38/U 25mm Ammunition", August 1993, Alliant Techsystems, Public Release, Case No. 93-S3040, E10630 8/93.</ref>
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