Herks rule! Little 155mm love for the Taliban

10-ton cannon airdropped over Afghanistan - Air Force News, news from Iraq - Air Force Times

Staff report
Posted : Monday Aug 10, 2009 17:54:49 EDT

How do you get a 10-ton cannon to a remote Army outpost in Afghanistan?
Call the Air Force.
An Air Force C-130 Hercules airdropped a 155 mm M198 Howitzer to soldiers in the Paktika Province in Afghanistan on Saturday.
"Five good chutes, that's all we could ask for," joint airdrop inspector Senior Master Sgt. Kevin Gifford said in an Air Force release. "It means the Army loaders did their job right, and we did our job right, and everything went according to plan."
The 36-foot-long cannon can fire shells at targets more than 13 miles away, according to Army specifications.

 

Do they destroy it when they're done?

 

Cool.
Even cooler that an airdrop involving a herc made the news. Usually it's only when a C17 does it that the news is interested.

 

It would be even cooler if they could mount the Howitzer to the floor and fire it right out the back of the C-130.


JATO, we don't need no stinkin JATO.




Yeah, I know, silly. But imagine the surprise.

Oh look, he's flying away from us. KA-FRIGGIN-BOOM.

 

No, it will be hooked under a US Army CH-47D (or F) with ammo just like it has been for the last 25 years when the CH-47D was first fielded. It's odd how some things are become "new" news.

 

They did that with a 105 mm howitzer.

YouTube - AC-130 Gunship power

 

I only knew about the Vulcan and mini-guns but I didn't realize they also had 105's on some of the ships.

Lockheed AC-130 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wow.

Thanks Tom.

 

yeah, or we could have just slung it up there......airdropping works too. Whatever makes you Stuck wing guys feel important....

 

I may be wrong but I think it is a 105 recoilless rifle and not a howitzer. Different guys.

At one time, the -130s used the 20mm gatling, 2 40mm Bofors and the 105 howitzer. They were trying a new 23mm gun which apparently didn't work out.

My first combat sortie was in an old AC-119G, call sign Shadow, out of Phan Rang. We went down to III Corps and worked a fire base under attack. It carried some of the first night vision goggles and as I remember 3 7.62mini guns. We went bingo to Phan Rang, bingo to Phan Thiet, and finally were bingo to Tan Son Nhut. We had to leave but before we left, the aircraft commander put all 3 guns on high rate and in a minute or two we were on our way to Saigon.

When we landed, we learned the fire base had been over-run.

Later when I was sent to the boonies we watched one night an AC-47 and some guy on the ground get into a p*ssing contest. Green tracers going up. Red tracers coming down. After about 5 minutes, no more green tracers going up. But the ACs were not operated without cost.

On the ramp at Bien Hoa was a burned out Spooky. There were huge gouges up the left side of the fuselage and fire damage on the wing and number one engine. Seems an OV-10 driver working the night strike pulled off the target and went up the side of the AC- with his right prop and he went through the AC's #1 engine. No survivors on the OV-10.