Direct proof of use
Official U.S. Air Force material documents AC-130W Stinger II gunships in Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Cannon Air Force Base reported that the AC-130W worked with conventional and special operations forces during the campaign and connected 16th Special Operations Squadron gunship activity to the fall of Raqqa, Syria, and Mosul, Iraq.
A July 23, 2018 Air Combat Command video record gives a specific mission-level example: an AC-130W from the 16th Expeditionary Special Operations Squadron launched to provide close air support for Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria. A matching DVIDS image set from the same operation shows 16th Expeditionary Special Operations Squadron aviators loading 30 mm ammunition on an AC-130W in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.
Sources: AC-130W Static Display Unveiled, AC-130W Stinger II Takes Flight, DVIDS 16th ESOS Air Support
Campaign role
The AC-130W's documented mission set in this conflict was close air support and air interdiction. The Air Force fact sheet describes the type's close air support roles as troops-in-contact support, convoy escort, and point air defense, while its interdiction roles include preplanned targets, targets of opportunity, strike coordination, and reconnaissance.
That mission set matched the coalition's partner-force campaign model. CJTF-OIR describes the campaign as an international effort in Iraq and Syria against ISIS; RAND's air-war study characterizes airpower as pivotal to the 2014-2019 defeat-ISIS campaign and discusses the close fight with ground partners as a major component of the operation.
Sources: Air Force AC-130W Fact Sheet, CJTF-OIR History, RAND Air War Against ISIS
Operational chronology
The public record supports AC-130W use after the aircraft had entered its Stinger II configuration and before its 2021 final combat mission in Afghanistan. Air Force background says the AC-130W had been employed in Operation Inherent Resolve, while the July 2018 Syria mission provides a dated, conflict-specific example of close air support for the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Cannon's 2024 retrospective adds that the AC-130W fleet flew 2,170 combat sorties and more than 15,000 combat hours over just over ten years of gunship service, expending 30 mm and 105 mm ammunition and precision-guided munitions in close air support, direct fire, and air interdiction missions. The article does not break those totals down by theater, so this page treats the totals as AC-130W service context rather than a count specific to the ISIS war.
Sources: Air Force AC-130W Fact Sheet, AC-130W Static Display Unveiled, AC-130W Stinger II Takes Flight
