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Lethal AC-130 aircraft return to Iraq
The US Air Force has begun moving heavily armed AC-130 aircraft - the lethal "flying gunships" of the Vietnam War - to a base in Iraq as commanders search for new tools to counter the Iraqi resistance, The Associated Press has learned. An AP reporter saw the first of the turboprop-driven aircraft after it landed at the airfield this week. Four are expected.
I'm surprised the reporter recognized it. I'm not surprised he promptly reported it.
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. But the plan's general outline was confirmed by other Air Force officers. Military officials warned that disclosing the location of the aircraft's new base would violate security provisions of rules governing media access to US installations.

The four-engine gunships, whose home base is Hurlburt Field in Florida, have operated over Iraq before, flying from airfields elsewhere in the region. In November 2004, air-to-ground fire from AC-130s supported the US attack on Falluja. Basing the planes inside Iraq will cut hours off their transit time to reach suspected targets.
Posted by: Fred 2006-03-04
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=144361