Engineers perfect software for Special Ops aircraft: "A C-130 gunship can lay down fearsome firepower in close support of ground operations, firing sensor-targeted ammo from 105mm and 40mm cannons while circling thousands of feet above combat area's. The gunship crews, however, saw a way to improve their capability through dual targeting.
Previously, the crews had only been able to target one gun at a time, but in combat they saw the benefits of being able to target both guns at once.
It was then they turned to the C-130 gunship lab here, where engineers test improvements in avionics and targeting software in a virtual environment.
'The way they described it is 'We want to be able to shoot the ant hill, and then kill all the ants as they leave the ant hill,'' said Steve Pollard, the lead C-130 gunship test engineer.
After months of work and close contact with combat flight crews about how they wanted it to work, software engineers in the 402nd Software Maintenance Group did just that. After testing it successfully in the lab, the new capability was put to use."
