ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE – Software and test engineers at Robins Air Force Base have become critical force multipliers for special operations aircrews flying AC-130 gunships. With names like “Spectre” and “Spooky,” the gunships own the night over Iraq and Afghanistan, raining down a fearsome fusillade of precision-targeted 105mm and 40mm shells. The small---but absolutely essential---force has become a life-saving mainstay, defying darkness and bad weather to deliver close air support for friendly troops under siege on the ground. But only eight aircraft exist and even fewer are available at...
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