Minigun
Encyclopedia
The Minigun is a 7.62 mm, multi-barrel heavy machine gun
with a high rate of fire (2,000 to 6,000 rounds per minute), employing Gatling
-style rotating barrels with an external power source. In popular culture, the term "Minigun" has come to refer to any externally-powered Gatling gun of rifle caliber, though the term is sometimes used to refer to guns of similar rates of fire and configuration, regardless of power source and caliber. Specifically, minigun refers to a single weapon, originally produced by General Electric
. The "Mini" of the name is in comparison to designs that use a similar firing mechanism but larger shells, such as General Electric's earlier 20 mm
M61 Vulcan
.
replaced the hand cranked mechanism of a rifle-caliber Gatling gun
with an electric motor
, a relatively new invention at the time. Even after Gatling slowed down the mechanism, the new electric-powered Gatling gun had a theoretical rate of fire of 3,000 rounds per minute, roughly three times the rate of a typical modern, single-barreled machine gun. Gatling's electric-powered design received US Patent #502,185 on July 25, 1893. Despite Gatling's improvements, the Gatling gun fell into disuse after cheaper, lighter-weight, recoil and gas operated machine guns were invented.
During World War I
, Germany
was working on the Fokker-Leimberger
, an externally-powered 12 barrel Gatling gun
in the 7.92x57mm Mauser
round capable of firing over 7,000 rpm, but its spent brass ruptured. None of the guns became operational during the war except the Siemens
example which was tried on the Western Front
with a victory using it during air combat. However, the Fokker-Leimberger was used in development of what eventually became the Minigun.
. The US forces in Vietnam, which used helicopters as one of the primary means of transporting soldiers and equipment through the dense jungle, found that the thin-skinned helicopters were very vulnerable to small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attacks when they slowed down to land. Although helicopters had mounted single-barrel machine guns, using them to repel attackers hidden in the dense jungle foliage often led to barrels overheating or cartridge jams.
In order to develop a weapon with a more reliable, higher rate of fire, General Dynamics
designers scaled down the rotating-barrel 20 mm M61 Vulcan
cannon for 7.62×51 mm NATO ammunition. The resulting weapon, designated M134 and known popularly as the Minigun, could fire up to 4,000 rounds per minute without overheating. (Originally, the gun was specified at 6,000 rpm, but this was later lowered to 4,000). The Minigun was mounted on OH-6 Cayuse and OH-58 Kiowa
side pods, in the turret and wing pods on AH-1 Cobra
attack helicopters, on door, pylon and pod mounts on UH-1 "Huey" Iroquois
transport helicopters, and on many other helicopters including the H-53 (MH-53 Pave Low
) and the common H-60 family (UH-60 Black Hawk, HH-60 Pave Hawk
, etc.).
Several larger aircraft were outfitted with miniguns specifically for close air support
: the A-37 Dragonfly
with an internal gun and with pods on wing hardpoint
s, and the A-1 Skyraider
also with pods on wing hardpoints. Other famous gunship
airplanes were the AC-47 Spooky
, the AC-119 gunship
, and the AC-130 gunship
.
While the weapon can feed from linked ammunition, it requires a delinking feeder to strip the links as the rounds are introduced to the chambers. The original unit was designated MAU-56/A, but has since been replaced by an improved MAU-201/A unit.
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The General Electric
minigun is in use in several branches of the U.S. military, under a number of designations. The basic fixed armament version was given the designation M134 by the U.S. Army
, while exactly the same weapon was designated GAU-2/A by the U.S. Air Force
. The USAF minigun variant has three versions, while the U.S. Army weapon appears to have incorporated several improvements without a change in designation. Available sources show a relation between both M134 and GAU-2/A and M134 and GAU-2B/A. A separate variant, designated XM196, with an added ejection sprocket was developed specifically for the XM53 Armament Subsystem on the AH-56 Cheyenne
helicopter.
Another variant was developed by the U.S. Air Force specifically for flexible installations, beginning primarily with the UH-1N
helicopter, as the GAU-17/A. The primary end users of the GAU-17/A have been the U.S. Navy
and the U.S. Marine Corps
, which mount them as defensive armament on a number of helicopters and surface ships. The weapon is part of both the A/A49E-11 armament system on the UH-1N and A/A49E-13 armament subsystem on the HH-60H aircraft. The weapons on these systems feature a selectable fire rate of either 2,000 or 4,000 rpm. There is mention of a possible GAUSE-17 designation (GAU-Shipboard Equipment-17), in reference to the system when mounted on surface ships, though this would not follow the official ASETDS designation system's format.
Other manufacturers in the United States also produce Miniguns with various refinements of their own, including Dillon Aerospace (the "M134D"), and Garwood Industries (the "M134G").
One of the first applications of the weapon was in aircraft armament pods. These gun pod
s were used by a wide variety of fixed and rotary wing aircraft mainly during the Vietnam War, remaining in inventory for a period afterward. The standard pod, designated SUU-11/A by the Air Force and M18 by the US Army, was a relatively simple unit, completely self contained, with a 1,500 round magazine directly feeding delinked ammo into the weapon. This means the Minigun fitted to the pod does not require the standard MAU-56/A delinking feeder unit. A number of variations of this pod exist.
Initially on fixed-wing gunships, such as the AC-47
and AC-119
the side-firing armament was fitted by combining SUU-11/A aircraft pods, often with their aerodynamic front fairings removed, with a locally fabricated mount. These pods were essentially unmodified, required no external power, and were linked to the aircraft's fire controls. The need for those pods for other missions led to the development and fielding of a purpose built "Minigun module" for gunship use, designated the MXU-470/A. These units first arrived in January 1967 with features such as an improved 2,000 round drum and electric feeder allowing simplified reloading in flight. The initial units were unreliable and were withdrawn almost immediately. By the end of the year, however, the difficulties had been worked out and the units were again being fitted to AC-47s, AC-119s, AC-130s, and even being proposed for lighter aircraft such as the O-2 Skymaster
. A fit of two MXU-470/As was also tested on the AU-23A Peacemaker, though the Royal Thai Air Force
later elected to use the other configuration with the M197
20 mm cannon.
Various iterations of the minigun have also been used in a number of armament subsystems for helicopters, with most of these subsystems being created by the United States. The first systems utilized the weapon in a forward firing role, for a variety of helicopters, some of the most prominent examples being the M21 armament subsystem for the UH-1 Iroquois
and the M27 for the OH-6 Cayuse. It also formed the primary turret mounted armament for a number of members of the AH-1 Cobra
family. The weapon was also used as a pintle-mounted door gun on a wide variety of transport helicopters, a role it continues to serve in today.
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
with a high rate of fire (2,000 to 6,000 rounds per minute), employing Gatling
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is one of the best known early rapid-fire weapons and a forerunner of the modern machine gun. It is well known for its use by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s, which was the first time it was employed in combat...
-style rotating barrels with an external power source. In popular culture, the term "Minigun" has come to refer to any externally-powered Gatling gun of rifle caliber, though the term is sometimes used to refer to guns of similar rates of fire and configuration, regardless of power source and caliber. Specifically, minigun refers to a single weapon, originally produced by General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
. The "Mini" of the name is in comparison to designs that use a similar firing mechanism but larger shells, such as General Electric's earlier 20 mm
20 mm caliber
The 20 mm caliber is a specific size of cannon or autocannon ammunition, commonly the smallest caliber which is unambiguously a cannon and not a heavy machine gun....
M61 Vulcan
M61 Vulcan
The M61 Vulcan is a hydraulically or pneumatically driven, six-barreled, air-cooled, electrically fired Gatling-style rotary cannon which fires 20 mm rounds at an extremely high rate. The M61 and its derivatives have been the principal cannon armament of United States military fixed-wing aircraft...
.
Background: Electric motor-driven Gatling gun
The ancestor to the modern minigun was made in the 1860s. Richard Jordan GatlingRichard Jordan Gatling
Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling was an American inventor best known for his invention of the Gatling gun, the first successful machine gun.-Life:...
replaced the hand cranked mechanism of a rifle-caliber Gatling gun
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is one of the best known early rapid-fire weapons and a forerunner of the modern machine gun. It is well known for its use by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s, which was the first time it was employed in combat...
with an electric motor
Electric motor
An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...
, a relatively new invention at the time. Even after Gatling slowed down the mechanism, the new electric-powered Gatling gun had a theoretical rate of fire of 3,000 rounds per minute, roughly three times the rate of a typical modern, single-barreled machine gun. Gatling's electric-powered design received US Patent #502,185 on July 25, 1893. Despite Gatling's improvements, the Gatling gun fell into disuse after cheaper, lighter-weight, recoil and gas operated machine guns were invented.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Germany
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
was working on the Fokker-Leimberger
Fokker-Leimberger
The Fokker-Leimberger was an early example of an externally powered machine gun of Imperial German origin that predated the M134 Minigun. It had 12 barrels and could fire at a rate of 7,200 rounds per minute but it suffered from jamming due to the poor quality of German war time production...
, an externally-powered 12 barrel Gatling gun
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is one of the best known early rapid-fire weapons and a forerunner of the modern machine gun. It is well known for its use by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s, which was the first time it was employed in combat...
in the 7.92x57mm Mauser
7.92x57mm Mauser
The 8×57mm IS is a rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge. The 8×57mm IS was adopted by the German Empire in 1905, and was the German service cartridge in both World Wars...
round capable of firing over 7,000 rpm, but its spent brass ruptured. None of the guns became operational during the war except the Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
example which was tried on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
with a victory using it during air combat. However, the Fokker-Leimberger was used in development of what eventually became the Minigun.
Minigun: 1960s–present
In the 1960s, the United States armed forces began exploring modern variants of the electric-powered, rotating barrel Gatling gun-style weapons for use in the Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. The US forces in Vietnam, which used helicopters as one of the primary means of transporting soldiers and equipment through the dense jungle, found that the thin-skinned helicopters were very vulnerable to small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attacks when they slowed down to land. Although helicopters had mounted single-barrel machine guns, using them to repel attackers hidden in the dense jungle foliage often led to barrels overheating or cartridge jams.
General Dynamics
General Dynamics Corporation is a U.S. defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest defense contractor in the world. Its headquarters are in West Falls Church , unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Falls Church area.The company has...
designers scaled down the rotating-barrel 20 mm M61 Vulcan
M61 Vulcan
The M61 Vulcan is a hydraulically or pneumatically driven, six-barreled, air-cooled, electrically fired Gatling-style rotary cannon which fires 20 mm rounds at an extremely high rate. The M61 and its derivatives have been the principal cannon armament of United States military fixed-wing aircraft...
cannon for 7.62×51 mm NATO ammunition. The resulting weapon, designated M134 and known popularly as the Minigun, could fire up to 4,000 rounds per minute without overheating. (Originally, the gun was specified at 6,000 rpm, but this was later lowered to 4,000). The Minigun was mounted on OH-6 Cayuse and OH-58 Kiowa
OH-58 Kiowa
The Bell OH-58 Kiowa is a family of single-engine, single-rotor, military helicopters used for observation, utility, and direct fire support. Bell Helicopter manufactured the OH-58 for the United States Army based on the 206A JetRanger helicopter. The OH-58 has been in continuous use by the U.S...
side pods, in the turret and wing pods on AH-1 Cobra
AH-1 Cobra
The Bell AH-1 Cobra is a two-bladed, single engine attack helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It shares a common engine, transmission and rotor system with the older UH-1 Iroquois...
attack helicopters, on door, pylon and pod mounts on UH-1 "Huey" Iroquois
UH-1 Iroquois
The Bell UH-1 Iroquois is a military helicopter powered by a single, turboshaft engine, with a two-bladed main rotor and tail rotor. The helicopter was developed by Bell Helicopter to meet the United States Army's requirement for a medical evacuation and utility helicopter in 1952, and first flew...
transport helicopters, and on many other helicopters including the H-53 (MH-53 Pave Low
MH-53 Pave Low
The Sikorsky MH-53 Pave Low series is a long-range combat search and rescue helicopter for the United States Air Force. The series was upgraded from the HH-53B/C, variants of the Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion. The HH-53 "Super Jolly Green Giant" was initially developed to replace the HH-3 "Jolly...
) and the common H-60 family (UH-60 Black Hawk, HH-60 Pave Hawk
HH-60 Pave Hawk
The Sikorsky MH-60G/HH-60G Pave Hawk is a twin turboshaft engine helicopter in service with the United States Air Force. It is a derivative of the UH-60 Black Hawk and incorporates the US Air Force PAVE electronic systems program...
, etc.).
Several larger aircraft were outfitted with miniguns specifically for close air support
Close air support
In military tactics, close air support is defined as air action by fixed or rotary winged aircraft against hostile targets that are close to friendly forces, and which requires detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement of these forces.The determining factor for CAS is...
: the A-37 Dragonfly
A-37 Dragonfly
The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly, or Super Tweet, is a United States light attack aircraft developed from the T-37 Tweet basic trainer in the 1960s and 1970s...
with an internal gun and with pods on wing hardpoint
Hardpoint
A hardpoint, or weapon station, is any part of an airframe designed to carry an external load. This includes a point on the wing or fuselage of military aircraft where external ordnance, countermeasures, gun pods, targeting pods or drop tanks can be mounted.-Rail launchers:Large missiles and...
s, and the A-1 Skyraider
A-1 Skyraider
The Douglas A-1 Skyraider was an American single-seat attack aircraft that saw service between the late 1940s and early 1980s. It became a piston-powered, propeller-driven anachronism in the jet age, and was nicknamed "Spad", after a French World War I fighter...
also with pods on wing hardpoints. Other famous gunship
Gunship
The term "gunship" is used in several contexts, all sharing the general idea of a light craft armed with heavy guns.-In Navy:In the Navy, the term originally appeared in the mid-19th century as a less-common synonym for gunboat.-In military aviation:...
airplanes were the AC-47 Spooky
AC-47 Spooky
The Douglas AC-47 Spooky was the first in a series of gunships developed by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War...
, the AC-119 gunship
Fairchild AC-119
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Hobson, Chris. "Vietnam Air Losses, USAF/USN/USMC, Fixed-Wing Aircraft Losses in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973." North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 2001. ISBN 1-85780-1156....
, and the AC-130 gunship
Lockheed AC-130
The Lockheed AC-130 gunship is a heavily-armed ground-attack aircraft variant of the C-130 Hercules transport plane. The basic airframe is manufactured by Lockheed, while Boeing is responsible for the conversion into a gunship and for aircraft support...
.
Design and variants
The basic minigun is a six-barrel, air-cooled, and electrically-driven rotary machine gun. The electric drive rotates the weapon within its housing, with a rotating firing pin assembly and rotary chamber. The minigun's multi-barrel design helps prevent overheating, but also serves other functions. Multiple barrels allow for a greater capacity for a high firing rate, since the serial process of firing/extraction/loading is taking place in all barrels simultaneously. Thus, as one barrel fires, two others are in different stages of shell extraction and another three are being loaded. The minigun is composed of multiple closed-bolt rifle barrels arranged in a circular housing. The barrels are rotated by an external power source, usually electric, pneumatic, or hydraulic. Other rotating-barrel cannons are powered by the gas pressure or recoil energy of fired cartridges. A gas-operated variant, designated the XM133, was also developed, but was not put into production.While the weapon can feed from linked ammunition, it requires a delinking feeder to strip the links as the rounds are introduced to the chambers. The original unit was designated MAU-56/A, but has since been replaced by an improved MAU-201/A unit.
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
minigun is in use in several branches of the U.S. military, under a number of designations. The basic fixed armament version was given the designation M134 by the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, while exactly the same weapon was designated GAU-2/A by the U.S. Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
. The USAF minigun variant has three versions, while the U.S. Army weapon appears to have incorporated several improvements without a change in designation. Available sources show a relation between both M134 and GAU-2/A and M134 and GAU-2B/A. A separate variant, designated XM196, with an added ejection sprocket was developed specifically for the XM53 Armament Subsystem on the AH-56 Cheyenne
AH-56 Cheyenne
The Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne was a single-engine attack helicopter developed by Lockheed for the United States Army's Advanced Aerial Fire Support System program to produce the Army's first dedicated attack helicopter...
helicopter.
Another variant was developed by the U.S. Air Force specifically for flexible installations, beginning primarily with the UH-1N
UH-1N Twin Huey
The Bell UH-1N Twin Huey is a medium military helicopter that first flew in April, 1969. The UH-1N has a fifteen seat configuration, with one pilot and fourteen passengers. In cargo configuration the UH-1N has an internal capacity of 220 ft³ . An external load of 5,000 lb can be carried...
helicopter, as the GAU-17/A. The primary end users of the GAU-17/A have been the U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
and the U.S. Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
, which mount them as defensive armament on a number of helicopters and surface ships. The weapon is part of both the A/A49E-11 armament system on the UH-1N and A/A49E-13 armament subsystem on the HH-60H aircraft. The weapons on these systems feature a selectable fire rate of either 2,000 or 4,000 rpm. There is mention of a possible GAUSE-17 designation (GAU-Shipboard Equipment-17), in reference to the system when mounted on surface ships, though this would not follow the official ASETDS designation system's format.
| US Army Designation | US Air Force Designation | US Navy Designation | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| XM134/M134 | GAU-2/A | N/A | 7.62x51 mm NATO GE “Minigun” 6-barreled machine gun |
| N/A | GAU-2A/A | N/A | GAU-2/A variant; unknown differences |
| M134 | GAU-2B/A | Mk 25 Mod 0 | GAU-2A/A variant; unknown differences |
| N/A | GAU-17/A | N/A | GAU-2B/A variant; optimized for flexible use, uses either an MAU-201/A or MAU-56/A delinking feeder. |
| XM214 Microgun | N/A | N/A | Scaled-down variant of the XM134 firing the 5.56mmx45mm NATO round. |
| XM196 | N/A | N/A | M134/GAU-2B/A variant; housing modified by addition of an ejection sprocket; for use in the XM53 armament subsystem on the AH-56 AH-56 Cheyenne The Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne was a single-engine attack helicopter developed by Lockheed for the United States Army's Advanced Aerial Fire Support System program to produce the Army's first dedicated attack helicopter... helicopter |
Gun pods and other aircraft mounts
Gun pod
A gun pod is a detachable pod or pack containing machine guns or automatic cannon and ancillaries, mounted externally on a vehicle such as a military aircraft which may or may not also have its own guns....
s were used by a wide variety of fixed and rotary wing aircraft mainly during the Vietnam War, remaining in inventory for a period afterward. The standard pod, designated SUU-11/A by the Air Force and M18 by the US Army, was a relatively simple unit, completely self contained, with a 1,500 round magazine directly feeding delinked ammo into the weapon. This means the Minigun fitted to the pod does not require the standard MAU-56/A delinking feeder unit. A number of variations of this pod exist.
Initially on fixed-wing gunships, such as the AC-47
AC-47 Spooky
The Douglas AC-47 Spooky was the first in a series of gunships developed by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War...
and AC-119
Fairchild AC-119
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Hobson, Chris. "Vietnam Air Losses, USAF/USN/USMC, Fixed-Wing Aircraft Losses in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973." North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 2001. ISBN 1-85780-1156....
the side-firing armament was fitted by combining SUU-11/A aircraft pods, often with their aerodynamic front fairings removed, with a locally fabricated mount. These pods were essentially unmodified, required no external power, and were linked to the aircraft's fire controls. The need for those pods for other missions led to the development and fielding of a purpose built "Minigun module" for gunship use, designated the MXU-470/A. These units first arrived in January 1967 with features such as an improved 2,000 round drum and electric feeder allowing simplified reloading in flight. The initial units were unreliable and were withdrawn almost immediately. By the end of the year, however, the difficulties had been worked out and the units were again being fitted to AC-47s, AC-119s, AC-130s, and even being proposed for lighter aircraft such as the O-2 Skymaster
O-2 Skymaster
The O-2 Skymaster is a military version of the Cessna 337 Super Skymaster utilized as an observation and forward air control aircraft...
. A fit of two MXU-470/As was also tested on the AU-23A Peacemaker, though the Royal Thai Air Force
Royal Thai Air Force
The Royal Thai Air Force or RTAF is the air force of the Kingdom of Thailand. Since its establishment in 1913, as one of the earliest air forces of Asia, the Royal Thai Air Force had engaged in many major and minor battles. During the Vietnam war era, the air force has been developed with USAF-aid...
later elected to use the other configuration with the M197
M197 Gatling gun
The M197 electric cannon is a three-barreled electric Gatling gun developed primarily for use by United States Army helicopter gunships.Development of the M197 began in 1967 after experience in the Vietnam War revealed the inadequacy of the 7.62 mm Minigun for gunship use...
20 mm cannon.
| US Army Designation | US Air Force Designation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| XM18 | SUU-11/A | Gun pod fitted with the GAU-2/A/M134 7.62 mm machine gun and fixed rate of fire of 4,000 RPM |
| XM18E1/M18 | SUU-11A/A | SUU-11/A/XM18 variant; various improvements including additional auxiliary power and selectable fire-rate capability (2,000 or 4,000 RPM) |
| M18E1/A1 | SUU-11B/A | SUU-11A/A/M18 variant; differences modified selectable fire-rate capability (3,000 or 6,000 RPM) |
| N/A | MXU-470/A | Emerson Electric module for mounting a GAU-2B/A minigun; used in AC-47, AC-119G/K, and AC-130A/E/H aircraft |
Various iterations of the minigun have also been used in a number of armament subsystems for helicopters, with most of these subsystems being created by the United States. The first systems utilized the weapon in a forward firing role, for a variety of helicopters, some of the most prominent examples being the M21 armament subsystem for the UH-1 Iroquois
UH-1 Iroquois
The Bell UH-1 Iroquois is a military helicopter powered by a single, turboshaft engine, with a two-bladed main rotor and tail rotor. The helicopter was developed by Bell Helicopter to meet the United States Army's requirement for a medical evacuation and utility helicopter in 1952, and first flew...
and the M27 for the OH-6 Cayuse. It also formed the primary turret mounted armament for a number of members of the AH-1 Cobra
AH-1 Cobra
The Bell AH-1 Cobra is a two-bladed, single engine attack helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It shares a common engine, transmission and rotor system with the older UH-1 Iroquois...
family. The weapon was also used as a pintle-mounted door gun on a wide variety of transport helicopters, a role it continues to serve in today.
| US Navy Designation | Description |
|---|---|
| Mk 77 Mod 0 | Machine gun mount for the GAU-2/Mk 25 Mod 0/GAU-17 series of machine guns; deck mount applications |
See also
- EX-17 HeligunEX-17 HeligunThe EX-17 Heligun is a two barrel 7.62x51mm NATO calibre machine gun. The weapon is gas-operated and was developed by Hughes Aircraft for use in the OV-6 recon helicopter....
- GShG-7.62
- List of multiple barrel firearms
- Multiple barrel firearmMultiple Barrel FirearmA Multiple barrel firearm is a firearm of any type with more than one barrel, usually to increase the rate of fire/hitting probability and to reduce barrel erosion/overheating.-Definition:...
External links
- 2005 Patent on a Minigun Design
- DeGroat Tactical Armaments; new production M134
- Dillon Aero; new production M134
- M134 Minigun at Modern Firearms
- Exploded diagrams and specifications
- Garwood Industries; new production M134
- GAU-17 info at NavWeaps.com
- Specs on a variety of minigun models
- The M134 Minigun in film at imfdb.org
- Hand Held M134 Minigun - As used in "Predator" and "T2"
- Video showing a CG animation of the firing process of a minigun.
- Military.com video - Helicopter mounted applications