Since its large profile and low operating altitudes around 7,000 feet (2,100 m) make it an easy target, its close air support missions are usually flown at night.

Capable of flying faster than helicopters and at high altitudes with excellent loiter time, the use of the pylon turn allowed the AC-47 to deliver continuous, accurate fire to a single point on the ground.

The analog fire-control computer prototype was handcrafted by Wing Commander Tom Pinkerton at the USAF Avionics Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB.

[20] Brigadier General Bradley A. Heithold, AFSOC's director of plans, programs, requirements, and assessments, said on 11 August 2008 that the effort was canceled because of problems with the Bushmaster's accuracy in tests "at the altitude we were employing it".

The 120mm breech-loading mortar concept offers more flexibility with the use of munitions that are currently available with greater lethality, precision strike capabilities, reduction in collateral damage, and decreased casualties in danger close scenarios.

Also, using the newer AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (based on the Hydra 70 rockets), or the Viper Strike glide bombs can dramatically increase the standoff capability of the AC-130.

[27] The AC-130J Ghostrider came from a 2011 initiative that sought to acquire 16 new gunships based on newly built MC-130J Commando II special-operations tankers outfitted with a "precision strike package" to give them an attack capability, requesting $1.6 billion from fiscal years 2011 through 2015.

[41] AFSOC eventually ruled out the idea in 2024 after the project was delayed by years,[42] determining that placing a laser out the side of the airframe would yield so much air turbulence that it would disrupt the beam.

Other potential additions include an active denial system to perform airborne crowd control, and small unmanned aerial vehicles from the CLTs to provide remote video feed and coordinates to weapons operators through cloud cover.

[44] Called the Tactical Off-board Sensor (TOBS), the drones would be expendable and fly along a programmed orbit to verify targets the aircraft cannot see itself because of bad weather or standing off from air defenses.

[27] The Air Force was also interested in acquiring a glide bomb that can be launched from the CLTs, capable of hitting ground vehicles traveling as fast as 120 km/h (70 mph) while above 10,000 ft (3,000 m).

Although the aircraft have been kept relevant through constant upgrades to their weaponry, sensor packages, and countermeasures, they are not expected to be survivable in future nonpermissive environments due to their high signatures and low airspeeds.

Military analysts, such as the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, have suggested that AFSOC invest in more advanced technologies to fill the role to operate in future contested combat zones, including a mix of low-cost disposable unmanned and stealthy strike aircraft.

[52] AFSOC is considering a number of changes to the AC-130J in order to make it effective against advanced adversaries including removing the 105mm cannon and upgrading the aircraft with small cruise missiles, an AESA radar, and adaptive mission networking enhancements.

[43] 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.

[11] 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 located in the left-front nose radome that could pick up localized deviations in the Earth's magnetic field normally used to detect submerged submarines.

The Black Crow system was slaved into the targeting computers of the AC-130A/E/H, enabling the detection of the unshielded ignition coils of North Vietnamese trucks hidden under dense jungle foliage along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

On 18 August 1968, an AC-130 gunship flying an armed reconnaissance mission in Vietnam's III Corps was diverted to support the Katum Special Forces Camp.

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 7,200 nautical miles (13,300 km) and 29 hours 43 minutes nonstop, refueling four times in-flight.

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 taken hostage on 4 November.

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.

[68] The loss of Spirit 03 did however result in the US DoD joining the development of the AN/AAQ-24 Directed Infrared Countermeasures System which, in its updated laser-based form, is now a common fit across large US military aircraft.

The 16 SOS flew missions over Mazar-i-Sharif, Kunduz, Kandahar, Shkin, Asadabad, Bagram, Baghran, Tora Bora, and virtually every other part of Afghanistan.

Modifications began by cutting holes in the plane to make room for weapons and adding kits and bomb bases for laser-guided munitions.

The attacks were part of an intensification of the US-led military intervention against ISIL called Operation Tidal Wave II (named after the original Operation Tidal Wave during World War II, a failed attempt to raid German oil fields that resulted in heavy aircraft and aircrew loss) in an attempt to cut off oil smuggling as a source of funding for the group.

The J-variant is lighter and more fuel efficient than previous versions, able to fly at 416 mph (669 km/h) with a range of 3,000 mi (4,800 km) and service ceiling of 28,000 ft (8,500 m).

On 25 March 1971, it took an anti-aircraft artillery hit in the belly just aft of the nose gear wheel well over the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos.

Named Azrael for the angel of death in Islam who severs the soul from the body, this aircraft figured prominently in the closing hours of Operation Desert Storm.