[chriselles]

It might make sense to maintain a few with the 105mm gun for low intensity conflict against non state actors.

But we seem to be moving at velocity towards a peer or near peer adversary environment.

An AC130H Spectre(Spirit03) was shot down by an Iraqi MANPAD crew when it remained on station after first light supporting USMC units that stopped an Iraqi probing attack in 1991.

When facing an adversary with modern MANPADs(or better) and night vision/thermal targeting optics, Spectre is going to be at risk.

Leave the gunship over the horizon and/or outside of the air defence bubble and launch a swarm of cheap drones.

Drones for command, control, communication.

Drones for surveillance and targeting.

Drones for electronic and kinetic attack.

Launched, and potentially recovered, from the C130 ramp, jump door, and/or retrofittable ejection system like a sonobuoy dispenser in a P3/P8.

Potentially any C130 could be configured with palletised launch/recovery systems as well as palletised drone operator consoles.

C130 configured as an arsenal plane would probably be more capable and survivable than the current Spectre, assuming equivalent flight crew and defensive systems.

[meepmorp]

Tangentially related, there's also the Rapid Dragon system for launching palletized cruise JASSM cruise missiles from cargo planes. They roll the disposable launcher packs off the back, which deploy a chute and drop missiles. You can fit 12 missiles in a C-130, 45 in a C-17.