Artist's impression of Alenia AC-27J Stinger II, previously known as Spartan Warrior.
Source:
http://sistemasdearmas.com.br/ca/macx04ac.html
http://home.base.be/vt6278535/ac-27j_stinger_II.html
From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alenia_C-27J_Spartan
The AC-27J was a proposed gunship version of the C-27J. The US Air Force shifted US$32 million from the Pentagon's 2008 budget to purchase a C-27J for the Air Force Special Operations Command, to fulfill the requirements that AFSOC had defined under the AC-XX concept that it envisioned as a replacement for the aging and extensively used AC-130s. The AC-27J was to be equipped using proven hardware and systems to reduce risk. AFSOC planned to acquire 16 aircraft, the first in fiscal 2011, with two additional gunships to be purchased each year from 2012 to 2015.
The AC-27J was planned as a multi-mission platform, equipped with full-motion video cameras and capable of covert infil/exfil as well as armed support from above, armed with either a 30-millimeter or 40-millimeter gun and the stand-off, precision-guided munitions like the Northrop Grumman-built Viper Strike bomb.
At the Air Force Association's 2008 conference, it was reported that the AC-27J variant would be named "Stinger II" after the AC-119K Stinger. C-27A 90-0170 (c/n 4097) was removed from storage at AMARC in October 2008 and delivered to Eglin AFB, Florida, for use by the Air Force Research Laboratory to test the feasibility of mounting of 30 mm and 40 mm guns. The fully assembled airframe was at the Eglin main base by December 2008.
The gunship program was put on hold in May 2009 because Army funding for 40 C-27s in an Army-Air Force cooperative purchase had been removed from the fiscal 2010 budget. Air Force Special Operations Command will remain with the C-130 for solutions to its stated need for gunships.
Source:
http://sistemasdearmas.com.br/ca/macx04ac.html
http://home.base.be/vt6278535/ac-27j_stinger_II.html
From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alenia_C-27J_Spartan
The AC-27J was a proposed gunship version of the C-27J. The US Air Force shifted US$32 million from the Pentagon's 2008 budget to purchase a C-27J for the Air Force Special Operations Command, to fulfill the requirements that AFSOC had defined under the AC-XX concept that it envisioned as a replacement for the aging and extensively used AC-130s. The AC-27J was to be equipped using proven hardware and systems to reduce risk. AFSOC planned to acquire 16 aircraft, the first in fiscal 2011, with two additional gunships to be purchased each year from 2012 to 2015.
The AC-27J was planned as a multi-mission platform, equipped with full-motion video cameras and capable of covert infil/exfil as well as armed support from above, armed with either a 30-millimeter or 40-millimeter gun and the stand-off, precision-guided munitions like the Northrop Grumman-built Viper Strike bomb.
At the Air Force Association's 2008 conference, it was reported that the AC-27J variant would be named "Stinger II" after the AC-119K Stinger. C-27A 90-0170 (c/n 4097) was removed from storage at AMARC in October 2008 and delivered to Eglin AFB, Florida, for use by the Air Force Research Laboratory to test the feasibility of mounting of 30 mm and 40 mm guns. The fully assembled airframe was at the Eglin main base by December 2008.
The gunship program was put on hold in May 2009 because Army funding for 40 C-27s in an Army-Air Force cooperative purchase had been removed from the fiscal 2010 budget. Air Force Special Operations Command will remain with the C-130 for solutions to its stated need for gunships.
