As the U.S. Air Force AC-130J flies over South Korea's towering apartment buildings, its powerful cameras can almost see through the windows on the upper floors.
When the gunners aboard the four-engine plane, nicknamed Ghostrider, aim farther out, they can detect objects as far away as 50,000 feet (15,000 meters), nearly 10 miles (16 kilometers). All are potential targets for the largest gun ever mounted on a fixed-wing aircraft.
CNN got an exclusive look inside the plane, assigned to the Air Force Special Operations Command, in early June after it flew from its home base at Hurlburt Field, Florida, for joint exercises in South Korea.
In a live-fire exercise, the 105-millimeter howitzer fired 43-pound shells at a firing range east of Seoul. The force of each explosion was so great that the tail of the 80-pound shell was blown off.
ton plane six feet to the right.
About eight seconds after firing, the shells struck 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) below, sending plumes of smoke into the air. The operators of the big guns could watch the results of their work on large video screens in the center of the plane.
“Two tanks have been destroyed,” a hoarse voice confirms in the radio headsets of the AC-130 crew.
Pilot Capt. John Ikenberry said the AC-130's presence in South Korea for exercises was intended to send a simple message to belligerent neighbor North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Un.
“It shows we're ready,” Ikenberry said.
Tensions on the peninsula have been running high in recent months.
North Korea sends balloons filled with garbage into areas in and around Seoul and tests missiles. South Korean troops fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers from North Korea crossed the military demarcation line in the middle of the DMZ.
Just this week, North Korea criticized live-fire exercises in the South in late June and early July as an “unforgivable and explicit provocation.”
Meanwhile, Washington has been sending a steady stream of equipment south for exercises on land, air and sea in preparation for one of its largest annual exercises, Ulchi Freedom Shield, which kicks off later this summer.
Experience they can't get in the United States
The AC-130J, the latest version of the U.S. Air Force's Hercules attack helicopters, is proving its worth in Korea for the second year in a row.
Maj. Heath Curtis, combat systems officer aboard the Hercules, said it was important for the gunship to make the flight across the Pacific because it provided experiential training where a conflict could be fought in conditions that could not be replicated at the ranges in Florida or New Mexico that the gunship would use in the United States.
According to him, the mountain ranges and ridges of the Korean Peninsula have wind conditions that you won't find anywhere else, which can make a big difference even for a projectile traveling faster than 800 mph.
It also gives Curtis and a second officer in AC-130's weapons control center the chance to train with South Korean allies they must protect in the event of a ground war on the peninsula.
The huge television monitors bring the battlefield below up close in both normal and infrared definition. Cameras mounted outside the aircraft can zoom in on details to ensure that weapons fire is accurate.
“What's unique about the AC-130 is the amount of fire we carry, the amount of ammunition – the varying amounts of it – and the amount of wait time we can provide,” said the mission commander for this gunship, Maj. Justin Burris.
In addition to the 105-millimeter howitzer, the AC-130J carries a 30-millimeter cannon and can fire precision-guided missiles and bombs from wing pylons.
The weapon's near-pinpoint accuracy allows it to fire on enemy positions within striking distance of friendly troops, leading to the aircraft being referred to in some circles as the “infantryman's best friend.”
And with air-to-air refueling, the aircraft could theoretically remain in place to support ground troops, as long as crew and ammunition allow.
'Spooky' history
The history of U.S. Air Force helicopters dates back to the Vietnam War, when the service installed 7.62mm cannons to fire on one side of a C-47 transport plane.
With that configuration, the aircraft could circle around a single point and continuously unleash enormous firepower. According to air force data sheets, the guns could fire 6,000 rounds per minute.
The firepower and flares they used to illuminate targets during night missions earned them the nicknames “Spooky” and “Puff the Magic Dragon.”
As the war progressed, the Air Force began looking for heavier aircraft for the gunboat role and turned to C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.
According to the National Museum of the United States Air Force, the first conversion of a C-130 to an AC-130 was conducted over Southeast Asia in 1967.
Thanks to their ability to support troops in close-quarters combat, AC-130 attack helicopters in various configurations have been deployed in conflicts including Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan, saving an unknown number of lives, according to the Air Force.
With the AC-130J model, introduced in 2017, the Air Force replaced the machine guns with more precision-guided munitions.
But there have also been problems, such as the 2015 attack on a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, which killed 42 patients, staff and caregivers.
dead.
Despite its enormous firepower, the AC-130 flies low and slow, making it vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire.
According to Air Force press releases, seven AC-130 attack helicopters have been lost over the years. The last time was on January 31, 1991, when an Iraqi surface-to-air missile shot down an AC-130H during Operation Desert Storm.
The plane crashed in the Persian Gulf while supporting U.S. Marines during a battle in Khafji, Saudi Arabia. All 14 crew members were killed.
The AC-130 crew acknowledges the dangers of ground fire to their aircraft, and some analysts question its usefulness in a potential conflict with North Korea.
“They cannot be deployed within, say, 100 nautical miles of the border because they are too vulnerable to North Korean air defences on the border,” said Peter Layton, a visiting professor at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia and a former officer in the Royal Australian Air Force.
Layton said the helicopters could be useful in supporting allied forces seeking to capture North Korean special forces that have managed to infiltrate deeper into the southern region.
Still, he warned: “If war breaks out there, don't try to be in an AC-130 unless the plane is out of the theater of war.”
Maj. Christopher Mesnard, director of public affairs for Special Operations Command Korea, said the AC-130J is a suitable weapon system for the Korean Peninsula.
“We have full confidence in our ability to employ weapons systems like the AC-130J at the times and places we choose, and in a manner that adequately addresses the risks, regardless of the region,” he said.
CNN's Yoonjung Seo and Gawon Bae contributed to this report.
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