Future military fighters and guns - yes or no ?

"Boomer" wrote in message ...
what sort of ranges is a modern aircraft gun effective at in the air to air
role?

It depends very much on the circumstances. In a high-speed tail chase
at low altitude, the projectiles will experience the maximum
aerodynamic drag and will slow down rapidly, reducing effectiveness to
only a few hundred metres.

At the opposite extreme is the head-on attack at high altitude. The
range for opening fire can be as much as 3,000m.

The gun makes a difference; other things being equal, the bigger the
calibre, the slower the shells will lose velocity and the longer will
be their effective range. The Russian 30mm shells are particularly
heavy at 390 grams (typical Western 30mm = 240-270 grams, 20mm = 100
grams), so they will slow down least of all among the fighter guns.
The most long-ranging fighter gun however is probably the SAAB
Viggen's 30mm Oerlikon KCA; it uses basically the same ammunition as
the GAU-8/A 'tankbuster' in the A-10.

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