When it comes to the U.S. armed forces, incredible developments by engineers such as the rail
gun or laser weapons come to mind. In addition to high-tech weapons, though, there are also
solutions that have been tested over the years. And today we will tell you about one of them.
The M61 Vulcan is a six-barreled Gatling gun that no human eye can keep up with, because
the 20mm shells shoot out of its barrels at a velocity of 6,600 rounds per minute! In
fact, simply knowing the pure power of the shells barreling down at an enemy can make
anyone uneasy! But how did this giant come to be and why
did the U.S. choose it to be a part of its military equipment?
After World War II, the U.S. had a need for new air guns because of the higher speed of
jet fighters. With the rate of fire of the guns of the time, most of the bullets would
trivially fly past enemy targets. Seized German designs also failed to prove
themselves in the eyes of American engineers – the army needed a weapon with exceptional
reliability. The Air Force put in a request for a new generation
of aviation cannons. They sought to close the gap in gun range by comparing the aircraft
developments of other countries. While Italian and Japanese fighters could
shoot at U.S. planes with their main cannon weapons at long range, American fighters had
to first get close to the enemy, and only then could they fire at them. The rate of
fire of the 20mm Hispano and Browning M3s began to decline in the jet fighter era.
In response to an Air Force request, General Electric revived the idea of the Gatling multi-barrel
shotgun, proposed by an American engineer back in the 1860s.
At the time, there was a lack of power source to fuel barrel rotation, which was the main
reason for retiring it from the arsenal. The new generation of fighters with turbojet engines,
however, offered enough power to power the gun, and running on electricity was more reliable
than gas-powered reloading. The design of the gun allowed the barrels
themselves to have a slightly lower rate of fire than the single barrel revolver gun,
but the overall rate of fire of the M61 was many times higher.
In 1946, GE was contracted for the Vulcan project, a six-barreled gun capable of firing
up to 7,200 rounds per minute. While European engineers were developing heavier 30mm guns,
the U.S. focused on the 0.60-inch cartridge for the prewar anti-tank rifle. They wanted
to reduce the muzzle velocity of the round and increase the hit rate against high-speed
targets. At first, the engineers managed to reach 2500
rounds per minute, and then the speed increased to 4000 rounds per minute.
Finally, in 1956, the U.S. Air Force adopted a six-barrel cannon with a hydraulic drive
and two modes of fire: 4000 and 6000 rounds per minute. In 1993, General Electric sold
the aerospace division, and soon General Dynamics took over the production of cannons.
The main advantage of the gun is its insane rate of fire - about 100 rounds per second.
Each of the six barrels fires in turn, extending the life of the gun by minimizing barrel erosion
and heat generation. The average chance of jamming is 1 in 10,000 rounds, making the
Vulcan also one of the most reliable guns out there!
Most aircraft versions of the M61 use a hydraulic drive. The cannon rotor, barrel and ammunition
feeding system are powered by a drive motor using flexible drive shafts. The projectile
itself is triggered by an electric ignition system, where the current from the trigger
wire passes through the firing pin to the primer, after which each projectile is rotated
to the firing position. As for the other version of the gun, the GAU-4
or M130, it is equipped with a gas drive that controls the gas mechanism of six barrels.
The gun itself, despite its autonomy, weighs 10 pounds more than its electric counterpart
due to the external power source used. Engineers originally designed the cannon so
that the M61 would use linked ammunition, but the ejection of spent links created problems.
In addition, the bulk of the M61, the feeding system, and the ammunition drum made it difficult
to install in the airframe. The engineers' main headache was the feeding
system, which was developed individually for each aircraft. As a result, the M61A1 version
with a non-contact feeding system appeared. For greater convenience, most airplane rigs
are made double-sided so that when ejected, empty shell casings cannot damage the jet
engines, and the retention of used casings supports the plane's center of gravity.
The M61 has excellent ballistics, huge fire density and decent armor-piercing damage.
That is why the gun is effective both at long and short range.
The gun is excellent against aircraft, ground vehicles, and naval targets. Armor-piercing
projectiles quickly destroy light targets. Such as SAMs, IFVs, and light tanks. At the
right angle, they can also easily destroy MBTs.
At sea, the effective range is 2 km, but the speed of the shells allows the M61 to penetrate
torpedo boats. In addition to small naval targets, the cannon is capable of quickly
taking out a destroyer, and its size only increases the likelihood of a hit.
M50 series projectiles were used as ammunition until the 1980s, and soon the PGU-28/B began
to be used in addition to them. Since 2000, however, after problems caused
by premature explosions, they have been used only in emergency situations.
Today, various armor-piercing incendiary, high-explosive and training cartridges are
used as M61 ammunition. Among them are the M53, M56A3/A4 and PGU-28A/B rounds.
But some types of shells are available only if the gun is mounted on a particular vehicle.
The same applies to the rate of fire. On certain aircraft, the gun might allow you to choose
any mode of fire, and on others - only one. In that case, the firing rate can actually
be increased from 6,000 to 6,600 rounds per minute.
The first aircraft to be fitted with the M61A1 was the F-104.
The Vulcan M61 first entered air combat in 1965, and in June 1966, Major Fred Tracy fired
200 rounds from the M61 in his F-105 Thunderchief at an enemy MiG-17.
The gun was installed in the Air Force version A-7D LTV A-7 Corsair II, where it replaced
its predecessor, the Colt Mk 12. The U.S. Navy adopted the gun for the A-7C
and A-7E. On top of those, the cannon was installed on new versions of the F-4E Phantom
II, although initially they were designed without guns, as they considered this type
of weapon obsolete in comparison with missiles. However, experience in Vietnam proved to the
military that the cannon was even more powerful than guided missiles in many situations. In
addition, the external cannon launcher was less effective than the internal cannon. That
is why the next generation of post-Vietnam fighters included the M61 inner cannon.
A little later, the gun started to be equipped with some compartments from the Convair F-106
Delta Dart and General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark, after which the gun was adopted as standard
in the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, and the General Dynamics F-16
Fighting Falcon and F/A-18 Hornet series. Along with them, the short-barrel version
of the gun is also mounted on Bell AH-1T and AH-1G Cobra helicopters.
Having noticed the successful experience of the Americans, the gun began to be used on
foreign aircraft as well. For example, the Italian AMX International AMX and Japanese
Mitsubishi F-1, which carried a JM61A1 Vulcan with 750 rounds.
Today, the M61 is also the basis of the US Navy's Mk 15 Phalanx CIWS and M163 VADS self-propelled
air defense systems. Although a lighter version of the M61A1 is
now available, with a thinner barrel, many engineers still consider the M61A1 a paragon
of military strength!
What do you think of this gun? What impressed you the most about it?
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