The newest AC-130 versions in Air Force service now, the AC-130W Stinger II and AC-130J Ghostrider variants, are also capable of employing more typical precision-guided bombs and missiles, in addition to their gun armament. There were reports in 2019 that Russia was also considering converting An-12 turboprop cargo planes into a similar gunship configuration, but there has been no further news on that front since then.

Still, beyond highly specialized weapons such as the MOAB, or Russia's "Father of All Bombs," which also reportedly requires a cargo aircraft such as the Il-76 to employ, the idea of using cargo aircraft as more traditional level bombers has largely disappeared from the doctrine of major air forces around the world. The Russian Air Force is certainly the most prominent to continue actively training airlifter crews to carry out these missions.

How effective these tactics might actually be in a real combat environment is debatable, as well. Dropping unguided bombs while flying along at above 13,000 feet, or even just 2,000 feet, is not a particularly discriminate or precision affair. Il-76MDs carrying out these kinds of strikes might be able to suppress enemy forces around a landing zone, but would not be able in any way to reliably destroy them. There is no indication that the Il-76MDs are configured to employ precision-guided munitions or that there are plans to modify the airlifters to do so in the future.

Precision-guided munitions remain in relatively limited use across the Russian Air Force, as a whole. The Kremlin has been criticized for years for using actual combat aircraft, including purpose-built Tu-22M bombers, to drop dumb bombs, especially over populated areas. There were similar concerns that Iraqi An-32s, and the Iraqi military's use of helicopters to carry out level bombing runs from higher altitudes, posed a greater risk to civilians than to ISIS terrorists.