US Air Force Special Operations Wants Tube Launched, Expendable Drone for AC-130s Targeting

US Air Force Special Operations Command wants an expendable, tube-launched small unmanned aerial vehicle for its AC-130 “battleplane” for peering beneath cloud cover to direct gunfire and precision-guided munitions.

The special forces organisation, which employs a large fleet of manned gunships equipped with 30mm and 105mm cannons, is pursuing the so-called Tactical Off-board Sensor as a way of “taking the cover of weather away from the enemy”.

AFSOC commander Lt Gen Bradley Heithold says the tube-launched UAV could be dropped from the back of the Lockheed Martin C-130-based gunship and orbit below the clouds. The sensor gimbal is controlled remotely from the AC-130, allowing crews to feed imagery and target coordinates into the on-board fire control system.

link.

May I suggest a hardened Locust drone.   That's to go with the laser they want.  If they are putting lasers and drones on the 130, I wonder what the LRS-B is going to have.