AFSOC’s Ghostrider brings the pain

It's been more than four months since the Air Force Special Operations Command’s (AFSOC) newest AC-130J Ghostrider began combat operations above Afghanistan, and it is bringing pain to the enemy with daily runs, said Col. Terence Taylor, Combined Joint Special Operations Air Component–Afghanistan commander told Stars & Stripes. The Ghostrider has flown more than 218 sorties (1,380 hours over about 130 days) since arriving in late June in support of NATO's Resolute Support mission. U.S. forces fighting the Taliban downrange simply can't get enough of the new battlewagon, he continued. "Every night, the AC-130J is flying," he told Stars & Stripes on Nov. 5. Ghostrider first arrived days before the June 28 change of command ceremony for new AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. James Slife, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News. It deployed to relieve the AC-130U Spooky following that aircraft's final combat sorties in June. The gunship comes equipped with the standard 105mm cannon and an additional 30mm GAU-23/A cannon, along with wing pylons designed to haul both GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. AFSOC headquarters is located at Hurlburt Field, Fla. (Source: Task & Purpose 11/08/19) https://taskandpurpose.com/air-force-ac-130j-ghostrider-afghanistan-sorties.