On Jan. 16, the 16th Special Operations Squadron conducted its final mission with the AC-130H gunship at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico.

To celebrate the retirement of the Spectre, whose development began in the early 1960s, the 16th SOS launched its whole fleet of 8 AC-130Hs; a tough and remarkable achievement, obtained thanks to the teamwork of pilots, maintainers, loadmasters and maintenance teams.

In 2013, the Squadron completed its last AC-130H Spectre gunship deployment in Afghanistan after 40 years of active service all around the world.

16 SOS will soon receive the AC-130J, a plane equipped with more modern avionics but more vulnerable to ground fire as a recent report pointed out. Indeed, the new aircraft lacks armor needed to protect some aircraft’s vital parts and, above all, its crew.

More from The Aviationist

Military History

35 Years Later, Retired AC-130H Spectre Crews Recount the Action from 1989’s ‘Operation Just Cause’ in Panama

Drones

BAE Systems Tests Unique ‘Tilt Body’ STRIX VTOL UAS in Australia

Military Aviation

U.S. A-10s Integrate with Philippine A-29B Super Tucanos in Dynamic Force Employment, CAS Exercise

China

U.S. and Japanese Air Forces Hold Bilateral Exercise Over Sea of Japan with B-52, F-15Js, F-35As and F-22s

Military Aviation

Airbus Unveils A320 Flying Testbed with New Nose for ECRS Mk.1 Radar Testing

Image credit: U.S. Air Force

Related articles

• Heavy Metal: last missions of the AC-130H Spectre gunship over Afghanistan
• [Photo] The effect of Florida’s freezing rain on U.S. Air Force AC-130U gunship
• A-10, C-130 and F-16 aircraft under snowstorm at Bagram airfield, Afghanistan
• Lightning strikes near MC-130E Combat Talon. Are lightnings a risk to airplanes?
• Iraq to get 24 AH-64E Apache gunships in a deal worth 4.8 billion USD
• Iraqi Army Special Ops Force Recruitment video feat. Mi-25 Gunship helicopters
• Arkansas Air National Guard’s A-10s fly last 4-ship before transitioning to drones