A gunship is a military aircraft modified or purpose-built to carry heavy, side-firing or forward-firing weapons for engaging surface targets. Rotary-wing gunships use agility to hover and strike, while fixed-wing variants orbit a target area to lay down sustained, concentrated fire from cannons and machine guns. They are primarily deployed to support ground troops and disrupt enemy convoys.
Heard on the job
The troops called in a gunship to suppress the tree line while they moved to the extraction point.
Insider tip
Fixed-wing gunships bank into a continuous pylon turn around the target, allowing the side-mounted guns to fire continuously into a single concentrated zone.