AS PART of the drawdown of US Air Force Special Operations Command's (AFSOC's) 551st Special Operations Squadron (SOS) at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, the unit has ended training on the AC-130W Stinger Ⅱ gunship.The final flight, with AC-130W 90-1058, took place on April 29, marking the end of mission qualification training at the 551st SOS. The unit is being officially deactivated on June 15, 2021.The squadron, a geographically separated unit of the 492nd Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida, has been at Cannon since July 24, 2009, following reactivation.Since then, it has provided aircrew training on the AC-130W and a wide array of other aircraft. As the AC-130W is going to be retiring in the next couple years, there is no further need for aircrew training on the type. The USAF had 12 AC-130Ws, but the first has recently retired,88-1305 having been flown on February 4,2021, to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base,Arizona, for storage with the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group.
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