Corps weighs gunship firepower options

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Corps weighs gunship firepower options
By Trista Talton - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Apr 24, 2008 6:26:12 EDT

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — More brains. More brawn. Now, maybe, firepower.

With their digitally upgraded cockpits and larger load capacity, the Marine Corps’ growing fleet of KC-130J Super Hercules refuelers has been hailed as a major step up from its predecessors. But the question of whether these aerial gas stations should be outfitted with weapons systems is a concept still on the drawing board.

A brief obtained by Marine Corps Times highlights various ways the KC-130J can be outfitted with firepower. Written by a major in the Weapons Requirements Branch of the Corps’ aviation department in response to a request for information from Commandant Gen. James Conway, the briefing also includes details about the Corps’ plans to scrap consolidated pilot training with the Air Force. The author of the briefing could not be reached for comment by press time.
Adding firepower

The AC-130J, Lockheed Martin’s offering as an upgrade to the AC-130 gunship, has “tremendous firepower,” the brief says.

The problem is that these aircraft cost too much, according to the briefing. One AC-130J squadron of 12 aircraft would cost the same as three Marine Aerial Refueler squadrons equipped with 15 aircraft each.

Instead, the Corps could opt to equip its KC-130Js with a roll-on/roll-off platform that would allow the aircraft to continue conducting aerial refueling missions. There are several options, including rail launched weapons, such as the Hellfire air-to-ground missile system, small diameter bombs and the AGM-65 Maverick, an air-to-surface guided missile.

Another choice could be internal, tube-launched weapons that would be “dropped from inside of the fuselage through pressurized holes in the floor of the aircraft.” And there’s the door deployed 30mm Bushmaster cannon, which is being used on the AC-130U, according to the brief.

Unguided munitions would require adding intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance — ISR systems — such as the Targeting Sight System, a multi-sensor electro-optical/infrared fire control system designed to identify and laser targets.

The briefing states that Lockheed Martin could roll out a KC-130J demonstrating such firepower in a little more than a year, if the request is made.

But the Corps’ KC-130Js are not closer to being outfitted with a weapons system, Maj. Eric Dent, an aviation spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters, said in an e-mail response to questions about the brief.

“As with all of our programs, we evaluate all possible technological options to ensure that our Marines are provided the most effective warfighting capabilities,” he said.

The Corps originally had plans to put new KC-130J pilots through interservice training with the Air Force. Pilot training was to begin in October at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., home of the largest C-130 fleet in the world.

But a closer look at costs associated with the training prompted Marine officials to take another route and use Marine Corps pilot training instead. Training at the Corps’ KC-130J Advanced Training Unit is more than $2 million cheaper a year and offers a shorter training schedule.

Dent said the head of the Corps’ Inter-Service Branch at Quantico, Va., has informed his Air Force counterpart of the Corps’ decision.

“The official notification will go into the system in May 2008,” he said.

The Corps plans to continue loadmaster and maintenance training at Little Rock, Dent said. Marine maintenance students will begin collocated training at the Air Force base in October 2009, allowing Marines to use their curriculum and instructors while using Air Force high-tech maintenance devices, Dent said.
By the numbers

Because the KC-130J’s technology allows for all of its training to be conducted in a simulator, Dent said, the Corps’ fleet reserve replacement squadron was deactivated.

Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Training Squadron 253, based at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., was the training ground for the Corps KC-130 pilots before it was deactivated in September 2005.

“This facilitated the redistribution of FRS aircraft and personnel to the active-duty fleet in order to increase our ability to support aerial refueling and assault support requirements,” Dent said.

The move meant an increase of three additional aircraft per squadron. The Corps has five KC-130 squadrons — three active-duty and two Reserve.

Additional aircraft in these squadrons requires extra personnel, including 18 maintenance Marines per squadron, six crew chiefs and six loadmasters per squadron, and 11 additional pilots per squadron.

The Corps currently has 29 KC-130Js and plans to begin transitioning the reserve squadrons, which have 28 KC-130Ts, around 2012.

Source
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/04/marine_gunship_042308w/