Aircraft · Air
AC-130J Ghostrider
C-130J-derived gunship for close air support, air interdiction and armed reconnaissance.
- Milestones0
- Operators—
- Components—
- Programs—
- Capabilities—
- Inputs—
Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Natalie Jones · Public domain (PD-USGov-Military-Air Force) · Resized and reencoded as WebP; no additional crop. The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.
Timeline
No milestones recorded for AC-130J Ghostrider yet. The timeline fills in as unveilings, tests, contracts and deliveries are sourced.
Cost to the Government
Aircraft · Lockheed Martin
AC-130J Ghostrider
Armed gunship whose mission equipment and conversion work make a standard C-130J transport price an inadequate comparison.
Fact-sheet cost / aircraft
$165M
Fact sheet reviewed 2026-10-09 · Dollar year not stated
Source-published aircraft figure; scope and dollar basis are retained rather than converted to a current market price.
U.S. Air Force ↗U.S. inventory
Not verified
A dated, variant-specific U.S. fleet count has not been verified.
Published active-duty program quantity
37
2025-01 fact sheet; by FY2024 · U.S. only
Fact sheet states 37 by FY2024. Kept as a program quantity because the wording is not an audited current inventory.
U.S. Air Force ↗R&D program total
Not verified
A separately identified lifetime development total has not been verified. This is not a zero-cost estimate.
Mission-specific acquisition scope
This profile follows the special-mission variant rather than applying the base transport’s price or fleet count. The hourly reimbursement schedule provides a variant-specific billing reference, but does not establish an annual operating budget.
Operations & sustainment
Reimbursement / flight hour
$9,776 / hr
FY2026 · Nominal USD; Other DoD Component
Published billing rate for use by another DoD component. It is not the fully burdened cost of ownership.
DoD Comptroller ↗Cost over time · 2 observations
Each row retains its original scope and dollar basis. Changing quantities, service life and inflation can change the estimate without changing the price of building one unit.
| Observation | Measure | Amount | Dollar basis | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | Reimbursement / flight hour Published billing rate for use by another DoD component. It is not the fully burdened cost of ownership. | $9,776 / hr | Nominal USD; Other DoD Component | DoD Comptroller ↗ |
| Fact sheet reviewed 2026-10-09 | Fact-sheet cost / aircraft Source-published aircraft figure; scope and dollar basis are retained rather than converted to a current market price. | $165M | Dollar year not stated | U.S. Air Force ↗ |
Contracts & purchasing · 0 records
Award values, ceilings and purchase agreements have different meanings. These records are not added together as total spending.
No primary-source contract record verified in this review. This does not mean there are no contracts.
International buyers
No international purchase documented in this review.
Coverage & open research
- Figures retain the date and scope of the original source. A historical count, cumulative delivery or procurement plan is not today’s mission-capable inventory.
- A dated, variant-specific U.S. fleet count has not been verified.
- A separately identified lifetime development total has not been verified. This is not a zero-cost estimate.
Unit costs and contract unit prices for this system, and budget figures for the programs that buy it. Each figure states its dollar basis and links its source; contract values are under Programs & awards.