Best dogfight gun?

Wrongo. Mig-27 has elevation-movable GSh-6-23 that uses 23mm ammo (same ammo
of twin-barrel GSh-23 used on MiG-21, 23...) and fires around 7,000-8,000
RPM. The same gun is installed into MiG-31 for AA, carried internally and
deployed on a movable gun-bay when used. What is interesting about this gun
is that it is, although Gatling-type gun, it is gas-operated (don't ask me
how!) and therefore so light. On trials it achieved some 10,000 RPM (!!!)
but it is tuned-down for practical use on MiG-27 and MiG-31.

The -other- Russian gatling gun GSh-6-30 You were talking about is not in
use yet (at least I do not know which aircraft carries it)

Nele

NULLA ROSA SINE SPINA

Tony Williams wrote in message ...

The 30x173 cartridge for the GAU-8/A was actually 'borrowed' from the
KCA, the most obvious difference being that the KCA's ammo is
steel-cased rather than aluminium alloy. The power of the HE rounds is
exactly the same. The KCA was adopted by the USA as the GAU-9/A, in
case the 8A failed (the A-10 would have had two KCAs).

As I've posted elsewhere on this thread, as well as the podded
four-barrel GAU-13/A version of the GAU-8/A, a lightweight
three-barrel CHAG version in 30x173 was also produced, firing at 2,000
rpm. That would have been interesting....

It's worth noting that the current Russian 30x165 ammo isn't that much
less powerful than the 30x173, and they do make a six-barrel rotary,
the GSh-6-30, which fires at 5,000 rpm and weighs only 160kg (M61 =
114 kg, GAU-8/A = 281 kg). If you really want bang for your buck, you
can't do much better than that, but the Russians only ever fitted it
to the MiG-27 for ground-attack.

Tony Williams
Military gun and ammunition website: http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk
Discussion forum at: http://forums.delphiforums.com/autogun/messages/