From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgunshipgun‧ship /ˈɡʌnʃɪp/ noun [countable] PMDa military helicopter used to protect other helicopters and to destroy enemy guns
Examples from the Corpus
gunship• Both planes and helicopter gunships had been used.• It is indisputable, however, that the warplanes and helicopter gunships occasionally make mistakes.• Even if I hadn't expected the gunships, their colours would have told me what they were.• The slicks slowed from 100 knots to about 80 to let the gunships fly ahead.• We were about a minute away from touchdown when the gunships started firing.• The gunships are like nothing else before them.• There were two gunships with us, and they circled around first and took no fire.• A visitor to Vadinamia is greeted, just outside territorial space, by the black-and-white gunships. 