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Gunship




In Navies , the term originally appeared in the mid-1800s as a less-common synonym for Gunboat .

More recently, a "gunship" has been used to refer to Helicopters to which Machine-gun s and similar Weapon s systems have been mounted, or a Fixed-wing Aircraft with heavy guns on board. The Etymology of this usage is obvious, since Pilots often refer to their aircraft as "ships".
The recent application of the term for military aircraft is more specific, describing a vehicle that is capable of hovering or circling its target instead of performing strafing runs. According to such a definition, the AC-130 Spectre/Spooky or the AH-64 Apache are gunships.

Such examples of fixed-wing aircraft are AC-47 , AC-119 , and the AC-130 .


FICTIONAL GUNSHIPS

Many '', a ''Star Wars'' video game and the Arachnid gunboats in the Starfire -universe. Most sci-fi "gunships" appear to follow the general principles of the helicopter gunship such as the Republic LAAT/i Gunship in '' Star Wars ''.


  • For the ''Star Wars'' New Republic ''Warrior''-class gunship, see the New Class Program .



  • The new Orca Gunship of and its expansion.


In some stories and games, "gunship" refers to a type of combat Spaceship resembling a "flying gun", i.e. a big, powerful weapon accounting for most of the length of the ship (typically at least 0.1 km), with engines at the rear and a small (compared to the weapon) crew area near the front.