In November 2004, air-to-ground fire from AC-130s supported the U.S. The four-engine gunships, whose home base is Hurlburt Field in Florida, have operated over Iraq before, flying from airfields elsewhere in the region. Military officials warned that disclosing the location of the aircraft's new base would violate security provisions of rules governing media access to U.S. But the plan's general outline was confirmed by other Air Force officers, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the subject. The Iraq-based special forces command controlling the AC-130s, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, said it would have no comment on the deployment.
Iraq as commanders search for new tools to counter the Iraqi resistance, The Associated Press has learned.Īn AP reporter saw the first of the turboprop-driven aircraft after it landed at the airfield this week. Air Force has begun moving heavily armed AC-130 airplanes - the lethal 'flying gunships' of the Vietnam War - to a base in
