AC-130 Gunship

The Lockheed AC-130 Spooky/Spectre Gunship is a heavily-armed Ground Attack Aircraft variant of the C-130 transport plane. The basic airframe is manufactured by Lockheed, while Boeing is responsible for the conversion into a gunship and for aircraft support. The AC-130A Gunship II superseded the AC-47 Spooky and AC-119 Shadow during the Vietnam War.

Battlefield 3
The AC-130 is a vehicle appearing in the Battlefield 3 expansion, Armored Kill. Control of the AC-130 is determined by control of a base—when capturing, an aircraft icon will appear next to the base name, signalling that capturing the base will allow players to use the Gunship. However, the gunship itself can remain in possession by the enemy until it is actually destroyed.

The pilot is AI controlled, and automatically patrols an area of the map by flying in its characteristic circles. Because it stays at the perimeter, it is not typically seen on the minimap by ground forces, who need to be vigilant to avoid being easy targets. On Rush maps, the gunship automatically advances to the next set of M-COMs, its center point slowly drifting into position. The gunship also adjusts for altitude on Alborz Mountains.

Players can spawn into either of two gunner positions; one for an autocannon, and one for a large-caliber gun. Both can use Zoom Optics, while the second gunner also uses Thermal Optics. Both gunners must consider the distance of their engagements—it can take over two seconds for shots to impact, more than enough time for a target vehicle to change course.

Both gunners can also access top-mounted 360 degree anti-aircraft guns. These are similar to the systems used by stationary and mobile anti-air units. Since they can only cover the plane's upper hemisphere, enemy aircraft can safely attack the gunship when level with it.

Both gunners have access to IR flares. They take 20 seconds to recharge. Well-coordinated gunners can alternate flare drops for maximum safety. The smoothbore gunner can also use thermal optics to follow the smoke trail of the missile.

Players can parachute out of the aircraft via the "Gunship Paradrop" spawn point, though care should be taken if the gunship is out of bounds. Players also must remember to open their parachute, as they spawn in freefall, unlike spawns from a Radio Beacon. This option is available anytime the gunship is directly controlled by the team, even if both gunner positions are manned. In the spawn screen, the Paradrop option shows the state of the gunship, while the gunner seats preview the attack area

The gunship is vulnerable to enemy aircraft and anti-air weaponry, as it is quite slow and large. Engineer anti-air weapons inflict about 20% damage, while vehicle-mounted heatseekers do about 11% damage. It does not regenerate damage, but does have a high tolerance and plenty of health, and does not lose health when on fire.

Patch history
On PC, the controls for each position are hard-coded to default values, which may confuse players that have customized their key bindings:
 * Primary weapon (ground attack)
 * Primary weapon (ground attack)


 * Secondary weapon (anti-air)
 * Secondary weapon (anti-air)


 * Switch weapon
 * Switch weapon


 * Toggle zoom
 * Toggle zoom


 * Countermeasures
 * Countermeasures


 * Enter(?!)/Exit gunship
 * Enter(?!)/Exit gunship

Trivia

 * The AC-130 has USAF markings on its tail and wings.
 * The HUD of the 105mm gunner seat is similar to that of the M1 Abrams and M1128, particularly the aiming reticle.
 * Interestingly, two AA guns are mounted on top of the gunship even though they do not appear on any variant of the AC-130 in real life. This is most likely done to counter the gunship's very slow speed and size, as without these the gunship would be taken out easily by any air vehicle.Battlefield 3 - AC 130 Gameplay on Death Valley (Armored Kill)
 * The 40mm cannon is missing from the AC-130.
 * On Rush maps, the gunship circles every 72 seconds; on Conquest Large maps, every two minutes.