The above (excellent) article reminds us that we sent our warships into mortal combat during 1982 with hopelessly outdated gunnery AAW defences – and payed a heavy price for that grave policy error arguably. One fears we may be making exactly the same mistake again today. I remember reading how the small size of the ammunition would allow much more to be carried and thinking space due to cost would never ever be a problem.

The successor to the Mk7, the Oerlikon 20mm/85 KAA cannon GAM-BO1 mounting. In service since 1983, this simple, manually-aimed weapon has a rate of fire of up to 1,000 rounds per minute and remains in use, fitted to the LPDs, the survey vessels and Batch 1 OPVs. (HMS Chatham, 2010) The L94A1 can only be equipped with one ammo belt consisting of two Armour Piercing (AP) bullets, followed by one Tracer (T) bullet. Neither bullet has much penetration (maximum of 13 mm), however, the AP bullet performs much better than the tracer bullet. Once the first production article is built, the company will transition into full-scale live firing in the late spring or early summer, Canole said, and will hand it over to the government to go into additional testing. The weapon was originally intended as a replacement for the coaxial weapon in the American M60 tank. The weapon was evaluated by both the US Army and the US Naval weapon center, who reported that the performance of the weapon was outstanding during all phases of testing. [2] However, neither chose to adopt the weapon.The L94A1 performs nearly identically to the L8A1 and FN MAG, having the same rate of fire and ballistic performance. Yes, it certainly is supposed to be better- although not sure how much better than a 40 mm Bofors equivalent. Left) There is a control console for each weapon on either side of a Type 23 frigate’s bridge. (Right) There are also identical consoles in the operations room (HMS Somerset, 2010). The controls are very different to the gunner’s panel on the mount as this is integrated with the Electro-optical director (EOD) which provides TV images to the operator. With the Rapid or Frenzying modifier, the Chain Gun will gain 25% speed. This happens due to rounding down its already exceptionally low use time (4 to 3). The Godly modifier is better for players preferring to save ammo, at the cost of slightly less damage. DPS for Godly: DPS=(36+bullet-roundup(def/2))*60/4*1.09. The DPS for Rapid: DPS=(31+bullet-roundup(def/2))*60/3*1.04. Despite being a completely different gun the L94A1 performs nearly identically to the L8A1 and FN MAG seen on other British tanks at Rank 6. This gives it a lower rate of fire than the L37A1 and L37A2, but a higher rate of fire than the L3A1 (7.62 mm) seen on lower rank tanks.

The new gun is expected to increase the rate of fire that is seen now on the Apache. The company is taking experience from its suite of advanced ammunition technologies, like the 30mm ammunition line, to develop 20mm projectiles “with significantly improved lethality against a range of targets including troops, [unmanned aerial vehicles], rotary- and fixed-wing assets, and other assets in the deep battlespace,” Canole said.

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The Mk.44 is a great weapon and it saddens me to see the Army not adopting it for their AFV fleet. I have spent the last 15 years working with chain guns of differing calibres and uses but they all look virtually identical on the inside.

The linked rounds pass up from the pannier on the right through the flex chute to the receiver on the gun breech. The flexible chute allows the gun to elevate between -20º to +65º (HMS Sutherland, Oct 2011. Photo: Navy Lookout) Problems with the electrical systems in the Warrior IFV have caused the weapon to fire without warning several times, resulting in the army issuing a safety notice. In at least one incident, this has resulted in injury to a British soldier and in others injuries to civilians. [3] The MoD denied the problem initially. [4] The Northrop Grumman Bushmaster II Mk 44 30mm is part of a family of chain guns originally developed for armoured fighting vehicles but adapted for naval use. The gun itself weighs 154.6 kg and is 3.4m in length.This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. ( June 2021)

Bolt operation. Probably the greatest benefit of a chain gun is the fact it can fire both open and closed bolt. You get the benefit of open bolt operation, better cooling and rate of fire or you can switch to closed bolt operation for more accurate fire. Following the M230LF fielding in theatre in different roles the US military, which call it XM914, issued a Request for Information for additional M-LIDS (Mobile-Low, slow, small unmanned aircraft Integrated Defeat System) in which the Northrop Grumman chain gun finding is the hard-kill Counter-UAS effector. With a weight less than 73 kg without ammunition and a recoil force of less than 7,400 N, it can be fitted to many RCWS designed for hosting 12.7 mm heavy machine guns. The M230LF chain gun can shoot single shot, controlled burst, and full automatic, in the latter mote the firing rate reaching 200 rounds per minute, and provides a lethality range of over 2,000 meters.L94A1 is the British Ministry of Defence designation for the long-barrelled version of the Hughes EX-34 7.62 mm chain gun, which is fitted to several British Army armoured fighting vehicles, including the Challenger 2 and the Warrior. A second version with a shorter barrel, designated L95A1, was also procured in small numbers. Chlorophyte Bullets pair well with the Chain Gun, as their homing ability negates the gun's singular weakness of accuracy. A commonly used chain gun is the M242 Bushmaster. Versions of its 25 mm action are found on ships (the Mk38) and Infantry fighting vehicles (the M2 Bradley and LAV-25) around the world. Others are the M230 30 mm Cannon, which is standard equipment on the Apache helicopter, as well as the Bushmaster II 30 mm, and the Bushmaster III 35/50 mm Chain gun. How much money could the Army have saved for its woeful vehicle programmes by being more pragmatic? (Saying that I am still trying to fathom why the refurbished Warrior needs a cannon. Why not a RWS with a HMG and / or 40mm grenade launcher and no turret?) But we buy woeful Ajax instead……….Again as I often with naval matters I look to the wonderfully conducted Australian vehicle programmes. They will probably end up buying Lynx to compliment their Boxers… I don’t know how much of an issue it really is, but I understand Nic Drummond to have fairly good information.