U.S. Special Operations Command has test-loaded an AGM-84 Harpoon missile onto an AC-130J Ghostrider gunship. The addition of the Harpoon to the AC-130J’s arsenal would give the gunship an all-new dedicated standoff anti-ship capability, which could be particularly relevant in a future large-scale conflict in the Pacific. Harpoon would also pair well with separate plans to expand the long-range targeting capabilities of the Ghostrider with the help of a new active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar.
Maj. Andrew Monroe, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command’s (SOCOM) Detachment 1, mentioned the Harpoon load test during a talk at the annual SOF Week conference earlier today, at which TWZ was in attendance. Based at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, Detachment 1 is primarily responsible for developmental testing related to the AC-130J, as well as the MC-130J Commando II special operations tanker/transport and OA-1K Skyraider II special operational light attack aircraft. The unit also supports integration work for special operations aircraft, broadly, as well as special operations aviation capability demonstrations.
“Over the last year, our team executed Precision Strike Package testing, Harpoon loading, and Small Cruise Missile integration and launch efforts off the AC 130J,” Maj. Monroe said.
Precision Strike Package (PSP) is the official term for the AC-130J’s armament package, as well as the associated sensors and fire control systems. Small Cruise Missile (SCM), which features a 400-mile range, is another current effort to add a new standoff strike capability to the Ghostrider, which you can read more about here.
This appears to be the first time the possibility of adding Harpoon to the arsenal of an AC-130 gunship has emerged. TWZ has reached out to Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), which operates all 31 Ghostriders currently in service, for more information.
Each AC-130J is currently armed with a 30mm automatic cannon and a 105mm howitzer, both mounted in the main cargo hold and firing out of the left side of the fuselage. The gunships can also employ various precision-guided bombs and missiles via Common Launch Tubes (CLT) and underwing racks. This includes variants of the GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb (SDB), a 250-pound-class glide bomb offering standoff range.
The Ghostrider has a demonstrated capability to engage maritime targets with its existing array of weapons, but it does not currently have the ability to employ a dedicated standoff anti-ship munition like Harpoon.
The potential for Harpoon-armed AC-130Js comes amid growing questions about the Ghostrider’s relevance in future high-end conflicts, especially a potential major fight with China across the broad expanses of the Pacific. The gunships are among a number of special operations aircraft facing these questions amid an ongoing U.S. military-wide shift away from primarily focusing on counter-terrorism and other lower-intensity missions. Even while supporting operations in largely permissive airspace over countries like Iraq and Afghanistan in the past two decades, AC-130s have operated almost exclusively under the cover of darkness to reduce vulnerability to ground fire.
The TWZ video below provides an overview of the evolution of the AC-130 gunship and its armament, as well as how the AC-130J variant is now evolving to meet new operational demands.
As TWZ wrote after the release of a video last year showing a Ghostrider pummelling the former Austin class amphibious warfare ship ex-USS Dubuque with its guns during the biennial Rim Of The Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise:
“The video from the RIMPAC 2024 SINKEX [sinking exercise] highlights how the Ghostriders, and their guns specifically, could be utilized against larger ships and in instances where the objective might not be to sink the vessel, such as during special operations boarding operations. The aircraft’s 30mm cannon, in particular, could be used to engage personnel on a ship’s deck.”
“However, during a future major conflict, just getting within gun range of a higher-value target like an amphibious warfare ship, likely operating as part of a larger group of warships further supported by air and other assets, would be a very tall order, if not impossible, for Air Force AC-130s. Ghostriders might still be able to leverage their guns against vessels in lower-risk areas or to help finish off severely damaged vessels separated from their companions. Armed overwatch over and around friendly forces on islands and anchorages could be another future maritime mission in a higher-end fight.”
A standoff anti-ship missile like AGM-84 would change the dynamic considerably for an AC-130J. Even just in the aforementioned force protection scenario around island outposts and ports, Harpoons would give Ghostriders a valuable new way to engage maritime threats at extended distances.
AGM-84 also has the benefit of being a weapon that is already in U.S. service. The Harpoon family is also still in production and upgraded versions continue to be developed. Current generation Block II Harpoons have a maximum range “in excess” of 77 miles (67 nautical miles), according to Boeing, which manufactures the missiles. The company also offers an extended range version with greater reach, thanks in part to a lighter, but also reportedly more advanced warhead.
Interest within the U.S. Air Force, as well as the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps, in expanding overall capacity to launch aerial anti-ship strikes has grown, in general, as focus has shifted to the Pacific region. A growing list of U.S. military aircraft are also in line to be armed with AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM) in the coming years. AFSOC MC-130Js are also among transport aircraft that have been tested as potential launch platforms for cruise missiles, including the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) from which the LRASM is derived, using a palletized munitions system called Rapid Dragon.
It is worth pointing out here that Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the C-130J and did the AC-130J conversions, has pitched Harpoon as an armament option for a maritime patrol variant of the aircraft in the past. Sometimes referred to as the SC-130J, this proposed version has also been depicted armed with AGM-84H/K Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) derivatives of the Harpoon. Integrating anti-ship Harpoons onto the AC-130J might also be a path to adding SLAM-ERs to the gunship’s arsenal.
There are questions about how an AC-130J armed with Harpoons would be able to find targets at sea and cue the missiles to them. This is where separate plans to add a new AESA radar to the Ghostrider could come in. This is something SOCOM has been actively working toward since at least 2023.
“We’re looking to include or to deliver enhanced precision effects” on the AC-130J, “which includes AESA radar integration,” Lt. Col. Shawna Matthys, Division Chief for Integrated Strike Programs within SOCOM’s Program Executive Office-Fixed Wing (PEO-FW), also told TWZ and other attendees at SOF Week today. “This will allow us to see further [and offer] more accurate target tracking.”
Matthys also noted that radar might help with “operating in contested environments.” TWZ has highlighted in the past how an AESA radar would give the AC-130J improved threat warning and general situational awareness, and could offer new electronic warfare capabilities. When the Ghostrider fleet might begin receiving new radars remains to be seen.
“We’re doing some pathfinding with an APG-83, which is a very common solution in the Air Force,” Col. T. Justin Bronder, head of PEO-FW, also said today at the SOF Week conference. “We certainly look to leverage [non-special operations] service infrastructure where we can, because that gives us good economies of scale.”
The Air Force is currently in the process of integrating Northrop Grumman AN/APG-83, also known as Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR), onto a significant number of its F-16C/D Viper fighters. In addition to its aerial surveillance capabilities, the AN/APG-83 has a synthetic aperture mapping mode, also referred to as SAR mapping, which allows it to produce high-resolution images. That imagery, in turn, can be used for target acquisition and identification purposes, as well as general reconnaissance. An AC-130J could use that capability to help find and target enemy ships with Harpoons, as well as SDBs. You can read more about the SABR in this past TWZ feature.
The plan right now is to “leverage the existing technology and then tailor that to the AC-130J,” Lt. Col. Matthys added following Col. Bronder’s comments about current work with the AN/APG-83.
Much remains to be learned about the extent of plans to arm the AC-130J with Harpoon. Still, a dedicated anti-ship weapon would give the gunships an important capability boost, especially with an eye toward future fights in the Pacific, even if they were to still operate in lower-threat portions of the battlespace.
Update: 5/8/2025 –
Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) has provided the following statement in response to TWZ‘s queries for more information about any plans to integrate Harpoon onto the AC-130J:
“AFSOC is constantly testing and evaluating capabilities that can provide enhanced precision effects for our platforms. Like any of our aircraft, the AC-130J is a highly adaptable platform with the ability to employ modular solutions. We will continue to iterate on these solutions to ensure AFSOC can effectively support the Joint Force in complex operating environments.”
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