“Electric primer”…? How in the hell does that work…?
Back in the 90s I watched the then-new Apache helicopters
light up an Iraqi convoy with 30mm.
It was literally “the bomb”!
One guy crawled under a truck and when the shells hit… it was with such
force that the vehicle itself turned into shrapnel. The
rag head under the truck got pulped.
So is this thing a gun? Or an artillery piece? Is the 30mm ammo the same
for the Apache and the Warthog?
Another rabbit hole beckons…
30mm? It wouldn't be classified as artillery; it is much too small and generally artillery rounds are semi-fixed. This seems like something you'd use in a LAV chaingun for armored vehicles or aircraft. AFAIK, Canadian LAVs are equipped with the M242 Bushmaster which is a 25mm chaingun.
ReplyDeletePerhaps BCE can further elucidate. The Americans always get cooler toys. I've never seen anything like that when I was in the tres ghey Canadienne army.
Probably a Piezoelectric primer... Then again, who am I to know? I'm just an aging telephone man...
ReplyDeleteSo…it’s still set off by a firing pin…? Oh now I GOTTA do a deep dive on this…
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30mm bore is the same hole, regardless of the projectile. Heavier projectiles need more pressure pushing them to reach adequate velocity. The ammo of the A-10, and the Apache ammo, are different amounts of propellent and different pressures. Theoretically, an A-10's DU APIT projectile could be sent out of the Apache's barrel, but it would not perform correctly.
ReplyDeleteA good analogy is the .22 mag rimfire compared to the22-250.
The GAU-8/A is the 30mm gattling gun on the A-10 warthog.
ReplyDelete20mm and 30mm gattling guns use electrically fired ammo because it's faster and there's no moving parts (firing pins, etc.)
The GAU-8 is also used by several navies in the Goalkeeper CWIS to knock down incoming missiles. The benefit of an electric primer is that you can arm or disarm the gun via a switch in the cockpit.
ReplyDeleteThe Apache fires a straight walled 30x113mm cartridge the Warthog fires a 30x173mm bottle-necked cartridge that has two or three times the powder charge.
Al_in_Ottawa
That makes sense. I know with the 20mm stuff it’s the same way - the case dimensions are all over the place depending on which country they’re coming from…
DeleteSo…can they shoot exploding bullets? I’ve seen some vids when they seem to explode on contact like artillery shells…
The GAU-8 autocannon on the A-10 and CIWS is 30x173mm. The M230 chain gun on the Apache uses 30x113mm.
ReplyDeleteThanks, McC!!!
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