this is russia's version of the gau-8 avengers
when ground troops need a little extra firepower to get out of a jam there's no
more comforting sound than the distinctive sound that comes from the gau-8 avenger
for anyone who doesn't know the avenger is the seven-barreled wonder carried by the u.s
air force's much-loved a-10 thunderbolt too
firing a deadly barrage of 30 millimeters rounds at high velocity was such a good idea
it's no wonder other countries armed forces have an avenger like weapon of their own
but the cannon american ground troops should care most about as russia's the grayazave gsh-630
there are a handful of important differences between the two weapons platforms
if their rate of fire and muzzle velocity are what floats your boat
and maybe sinks the enemy's boat then the avenger has the grizz zav shipanov beat
hands down the russian weapon system has only six barrels where the american has seven and
the hydraulic electric gau-8 avengers as a hybrid that no one is going to make fun
of russia's big gun also comes with a few heavy drawbacks the most important
being that the aircraft firing the gun can actually be damaged while using it
with a weapon as powerful as the gau-8 american defense contractor fairchild
republic actually designed the a-10s airframe around the gun taking out a friendly aircraft
to provide close air support to soldiers on the ground seems counterproductive right
though firing the cannon can affect the thunderbolts airspeed it doesn't cause any
actual harm it's not expected to be a supersonic fighter jet it needs to go slower to perform its
cas mission there's nothing wrong with how it operates now except for maybe making the a-10 a
slightly easier target for troops on the ground to take shots at but that's why they up armored
the slow beast making it into a flying tank there's a reason it was nicknamed that warthog
this is not set for its russian counterpart built by the soviet union in the mid 1970s
the griezaev shippenov was not built to have an airplane designed around it
it was added as the primary gun for the mig-27d flogger extending outward from the
bottom of the fuselage this positioning allowed the plane to absorb its recoil
more efficiently but would vibrate the cockpit to an uncomfortable degree and create a lot of noise
the vibrations would eventually cause cracks throughout the airframe including important parts
like the landing gear avionics and fuel tanks firing the gun would even destroy the lights mig
pilots used for landing at night more serious vibrations caused by the grizzlies shipping of
would damage gun sights instrument panels and could even cause the cockpit canopy to break
you