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CNN Live At Daybreak
America Strikes Back: The Role of The AC-130
Aired October 18, 2001 - 08:27 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. this week began using a specially-modified AC-130 aircraft in Afghanistan. It is a low-flying gunship, and it signals a change in the offensive against Taliban forces.
CNN's Miles O'Brien and military analyst, General -- we can't see him here -- but Donald Shepperd, I guess is off the wings.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He'll be in a second -- don't worry.
ZAHN: Miles, it is so good to see you. We haven't seen enough of you lately. How are you this morning?
O'BRIEN: Well, I feel the same way, I'm sorry. I've been working hard to try to get these segments together, and we're glad to be with you this morning - good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: You do a darn good job of it. And I really actually think they're very effective.
O'BRIEN: Well, thank you very much.
ZAHN: Because you can look at this stuff, you know, in the newspaper, and it doesn't give the dimension that you are giving us here every morning.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Back to you, Paula. And what can I say after that? I appreciate it.
All right, let's get started, shall we? This is the story of Spooky and Spectre and their ancestor, Puff the Magic Dragon.
Now, we're not talking about fairy tales here. We're talking about a very powerful, very effective airborne gunship.
And let's take a look at it and with it and discuss it with our retired general military analyst, General Don Shepperd -- good to see you, General Shepperd.
MAJ. GEN. DONALD SHEPPERD (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: Good morning, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Full disclosure here. You have a familiar link to the AC-130, don't you?
SHEPPERD: Indeed, I do. I have flown on it, and also my son was a former gunship pilot.
O'BRIEN: All right. So in the interest of full disclosure, a little bit of bias here, but that's OK.
Tell us about how effective this AC-130 is, and perhaps more importantly, the fact that we know it is now working over the sky over Afghanistan.
What does that say about the air campaign thus far, and the campaign in general?
SHEPPERD: It says two things, Miles. First of all, we have air superiority at high altitudes, and this operates at medium altitude, so we feel good about putting it in this environment. It needs a permissive environment, or a semi-permissive environment.
It also is an indication that we're going against targets where we're seeking low-collateral damage and basically front-line targets. We're starting to move against troop concentrations in the field and their equipment, as opposed to the fixed targets on the surface, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. Let's take a look at some animation we put together, which hopefully explains a little bit about how the AC-130, in this case probably the "U" model, which is called Spooky Works. We'll put this in motion. We should tell folks that the landing gear would not be down in the real world there -- our apologies for that bit of inaccuracy here.
General Shepperd, this read beam coming out of the side as it makes its left turns, what is that doing?
SHEPPERD: Well, basically, it has sensors, and it's a side looking -- it's a side looking sensor on this thing -- a low light TV, an additional light TV, an IR sensor, infrared sensor, and then also a side look -- a synthetic aperture radar, so it can operate through the weather.
Through the guns on the side, on the left-hand side of the airplane, you have a 25-mm gun, a 40-mm gun and a 105-mm Howitzer. The guns can fire up to 2,000 rounds a minute; the Howitzer at 6 to 10 rounds a minute. This is a variation of a long standing C-130 Lockheed that we had models starting in 1953. It has been the tactical airlift workhorse. They've now got the new J-30 out, and this is an awesome machine.
We have the old "H" model, it's called a Spectre, and this is the "U" model and tremendous new capability. The main new capability is it can operate better through the weather. It can also engage multiple targets at the same time as much as a kilometer apart, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. Let's get back to that graphic once again, and we'll explain some of the defensive measures. We've been talking about the offensive capabilities of it. As it is flying around relatively low, as you say, at medium altitude, if a surface-to-air missile of some kind -- say a Stinger missile, which homes in on the heat sources of those engines, if it is fired at C-130, what could happen then?
SHEPPERD: Well, basically it has a low-band jamming capability for radar-guided missiles, but it also has chap and flair on board, and it can dispense those chap and flair and decoy the shoulder-fired missiles. It's still a vulnerable platform, because it's slow and stays in the area a long time, but it does have the defensive capabilities that work very well.
O'BRIEN: This -- given the amount of firepower that it can put in one given spot, I guess you could call this kind of close air support as well. If there was a situation perhaps where a pilot went down, would this come into play as well?
SHEPPERD: It could come into play depending upon the area. The idea of this thing is massive firepower, concentration, low-collateral damage, and it can get targets on the fly. With its sensors, it can zoom in, see what's on the ground, do reconnaissance and react to targets that are emerging. It's a very, very effective weapon system, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. So low and slow isn't so bad all of the time.
SHEPPERD: Right.
O'BRIEN: General Don Shepperd, thanks very much for your insights as always.
And if you'd like to find out more about the AC-130, and virtually every other aircraft used in this campaign thus far, we invite you to check out CNN.com, where we have a hot link to the military aircraft involved, as well as an awful lot of other depth and context on the situation in Afghanistan and the war against terrorism.
Let's send it back to Paula in New York -- and, Paula, you're doing a good job too.
ZAHN: Well, thank you. Did my mother tell you to say that?
O'BRIEN: No, no. It's absolutely unsolicited.
ZAHN: See, completely authentic.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
ZAHN: Miles, as always, thanks.
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