Having found the AC-130 Spectre gunships (which mount numerous weapons and sensors firing sideways out of a C-130 cargo plane) to be invaluable in Afghanistan, the Pentagon has ordered the Air Force to buy four new ones in 2003 and to convert four existing C-130H cargo planes into AC-130s. (The four C-130Hs will be replaced by C-130Js added to the production schedule.)--Stephen V Cole
