Gunships move to Cannon

Two AC-130 Spectre gunships left Hurlburt Field, Fla., on May 19. They never returned.

Instead, they flew to Cannon Air Force Base, becoming the first of as few as four and as many as seven deployments of Spectres to the base.

It’s all part of the base continuing its transition into an Air Force Special Operations wing.

“It was satisfying to see the big pieces of the move getting prepped and ready for their formation departure,” said Lt. Col. Sean Farrell, commander of the 16th Special Operations Squadron, which has been at Hurlburt since December 1975.

“It marked another milestone (in the move) as it was one of first tangible things to demonstrate that yes, we are actually moving,” he said.

Eight of the gunships are expected to be at Cannon within the next few months. Second Lt. Raymond Gobberg of Cannon’s Public Affairs Office said there are no particular dates when all of the gunships will be in, but the plan is to phase them in over the summer and into the fall.

“We built our aircraft and personnel migration around a phased execution that allows the squadron to remain in support of combat operations overseas for the duration of the unit move,” Farrell said.

Farrell said Air Force Special Operations Command looks at two primary factors when AC-130s are sent to Cannon, and whether they are sent one or two at a time.

First, AFSOC looks at aircraft availability with maintenance and modification schedules considered. Also, Farrell said, where the aircraft is going must have the same number of maintenance and aircrew members the aircraft’s previous location held.

“As more aircrew PCS (make a permanent change of station) to Cannon after their overseas contingency tour,” Farrell said, “we need to match the number of crews with more aircraft.”

The AC-130H Spectre gunship is a modified Lockheed airplane configured with side-firing weapons, including a 105-millimeter Howitzer and a 40-millimeter Bofors cannon. The aircraft is used for close air support, armed reconnaissance, interdiction, night search and rescue, and airborne command and control.

Col. Timothy Leahy, who was succeeded as Cannon’s commander last week by Col. Stephen Clark, told Clovis city commissioners he recently took a test flight with the newest AC-130s at Cannon.

However, Farrell said the aircraft do not need to be tested once they arrive, and only require basic acceptance checks from maintenance crews that take a day or two.

The next two gunships are expected to come around mid-July and the end of July at the latest, Farrell said,

The squadron, first operational in 1968 in Thailand, remains at Hurlburt and the flight and maintenance crews at Cannon are now a detachment unit. That changes June 19, when a flag transfer officially puts the squadron at Cannon and designates the crew finishing up the move at Hurlburt as the detachment unit.

Nearly six weeks later, on July 30, Farrell will relinquish squadron command to Lt. Col. Jason Miller.