TERRORIST KILLER us military GAU 23 30mm Auto Cannon
The US Military GAU 23 30 Cal
Auto cannon makes a great terrorist killer and will serve the
US Military well in future battles. The
Mk44 Bushmaster II is a
30 mm chain gun manufactured by
Alliant Techsystems. It is a derivative of the 25 mm
M242 Bushmaster, and uses 70% of the same parts as the
M242 while increasing the firepower by as much as 50% with the 20% increase in caliber size. The barrel is chromium-plated for extended life. The gun uses standard
GAU-8 Avenger ammunition that is available in
API (Armor-Piercing
Incendiary),
HEI (High-Explosive Incendiary) and
APFSDS-T (Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot-Tracer) variants. The gun can be converted to a caliber of
40 mm, which involves changing the barrel and a few key parts, to use the
Super 40 cartridge. It can also be converted to use the 30x170 mm
RARDEN cartridge.
History[edit]
The
Bushmaster II is the standard primary armament of Bionix-II
AFV currently in service with the
Singapore Army, the
KTO Rosomak in
Polish service as well as that of the
CV90 AFVs in Finnish,
Norwegian and
Swiss service. Although the
United States Air Force selected this cannon to replace the 25 mm and 40 mm guns on its fleet of
AC-130U gunships in
2007, this plan was later canceled.[1]
The United States Marine Corps'
Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, which has been canceled, was expected to be armed with this cannon as well. Some
United States Navy vessels, such as the new
San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock are armed with the Bushmaster II for surface threat defense.
The Bushmaster II cannon is used in the
DS30M Mark 2 Automated Small
Calibre Gun (
ASCG)
point defense system that is fitted to the
Royal Navy's Type 23 frigates.[2]
The
USAF had experimented with installing Bushmaster II cannons on their AC-130U gunships in place of the
GAU-12 and
Bofors 40 mm cannons. On 11
August 2008, the effort was canceled because of problems with the
Bushmaster's accuracy in tests "at the altitude we were employing it." There were also schedule considerations that drove the decision.[3] On 9 July
2012, the
Air Force type classified a new version of the Bushmaster called the GAU-23/A. The cannon will be used on the
AC-130W and the
AC-130J gunships.[4]
The U.S. Navy uses the Mk44 Bushmaster II in the Mk 46 Mod 2 Gun
Weapon System (
GWS). The GWS is produced by
General Dynamics to give warships protection against small, high-speed surface craft. A Mk 46 turret consists of the 30 mm chain gun, a forward looking infrared (
FLIR) sensor, a low light television camera, and a laser rangefinder. The guns fire at
200 rounds per minute and are fed by a 400-round magazine through 200-round dual feeds.
Effective range is 2,200 yds (2,
000 m) for full-caliber high-explosive or armor-piercing ammunition, which can be extended when using sub-caliber rounds. The Mk 46 GWS is permanently installed on the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock and can be installed on Freedom-class and Independence-class
Littoral Combat Ships as part of the surface warfare (SuW) package.[5][6] In 2012, the Navy decided to replace the Mk
110 57 mm cannons on
Zumwalt-class destroyers with the Mk 46 GWS.[7]
XM813[edit]
The XM813 Bushmaster is based on the Mk44 and is offered as an upgrade for
M1126 Stryker and
M2 Bradley vehicles, as well contended to be the primary armament of the
GCV Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Improvements include a one-inch longer barrel, integral mount to increase first round hit probability by up to 10 percent, and dual recoil system to enhance accuracy and cope with future hotter propellants. It can have a next-round select, linkless feed system. The 30 mm chain gun can fire Mk310 Programmable Air
Burst Munition rounds to attack targets in defilade.
The United States Army Research, Development and Engineering Command helped enhance the XM813 mainly for safety and turret integration. By changing five parts, the gun caliber can be increased to 40 mm.
As of November 2013, the XM813 was being tested at
Aberdeen Proving Ground over three months to ensure reliability levels of 40,000 mean rounds between failures. Long-term plans are to equip vehicles with the
Bushmaster III 35mm/50mm cannon.[8][9]
The XM813 was demonstrated on
10 September 2014 at the
ARDEC Digital Multi-Purpose
Range Complex. The gun was mounted on a
Bradley Fighting Vehicle and fired at targets up to
1,500 meters away. An enhanced fire control system improves long-range accuracy to kill targets with fewer bursts, sometimes as few as two or three rounds instead of 10. The XM813 30 mm cannon is intended to replace the M242 Bushmaster 25 mm chain gun, and could potentially be mounted on vehicles other than the
Bradley. Two capabilities not demonstrated were its linkless ammunition with airburst capabilities; airburst rounds increase lethality by enabling engagement of targets in defilade when they would otherwise only be suppressed by fire.[10]
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