http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUcln7StaEw&sns=em
I would certainly not want to be on the wrong end of that. What's the targeting mechanism? It is a heads-up or helmet-based or ? In this era of "smart" armaments, I have to believe this is more than just a minigun. Bad-ass, though. Who else, if anyone, has miniguns on their warplanes? CW
It just gets strapped on and points to a predetermined point out in front of the jet. It may have some degree of "lead" built into its mounting configuration that will be accounted for in the fire control software that generates the sighting symbology for the pilot's helmet mounted display. I don't know for sure, as this was not my primary weapons system, though I did flight test for many JSF/JCA pilot-related components, but I really doubt there are any "smart" targeting or wild futuristic aspects to this gun pod.
There is a 3D sight picture that looks a lot like a hose stream directed in front of the aircraft. Continuously computed impact point, so as you pull g or maneuver the bullet stream image bends in the correct direction to keep the CCIP current. The General dynamics GAU-22 is a 25 mm system with four barrels and a muzzle velocity of about 3500 fps. Carried internally on the F-35A and as a pod on the F-35B and F-35C. The F-15 was originally going to have 25 mm cannon with caseless ammo, but the design never matured sufficiently for deployment. The GAU-22 has traditional cased ammo, shared with the five barrel GAU-12 Equalizer from which the GAU-22 was developed. Cutting down to four barrels on the GAU-22 cut weight and volume for the F-35 application.
Since the gun still points to one spot, a fighter pilot flies that point to a position that will land bullets through the target. The stuff Taz mentions are tools that help hone the accuracy of the gun to a very fine degree. That said, "In Lead, In Plane, and In Range" are the gunslinger's mantra. If you fly to those parameters versus an adversary, when you turn on the chain saw and squirt 50 rounds in a half-second burst, some will pop the target like a grape every time.
About 10, actually....for the F-16 anyway. If loaded 2X4XGun, a Viper could take out 16 or so bad guys...assuming a very target-rich environment...
What's the relevance of gun-pods anyway? Aren't these fighters built to detect enemy aircraft from 30 miles+ and utilize missile technology to kill? It seems like wasted space and weight...'dog-fighting' no longer exists.
The F-4E carried 750 rounds, the F-111 2000 rounds (very seldom used), F-15C 940 rounds, F-15E 450 rounds, F-16C 511 rounds. At least that is what GD publishes, not sure what reality is except for the early birds. F-111s rarely got to shoot the gun except at Weapons School.
You can burn through that much ammo very quickly in a gun fight. I've winchestered every A-10 that was ever sent my way, and most of the F/A-18's.
The F-35 carries about 220 for the external pod (F-35B/C) and less than 200 for the internal (F-35A).
Jim- Yup, only 181 rounds internally, although original quotes were for as much as 1000 rounds. Those 25 mm rounds pack quite a punch and rate of fire is less than the 20 mm at 3000 rpm.
Actually, "Winchester" is a brevity word that indicates a pilot has no more guided weapons and the gun is all he (or she) has left. As in: "Knife 2, Fox 2, Winchester" i.e. Just let loose my last missile and the rest of my flight now knows that the chain saw is all I have left to kill with.
The definition is "out of ordnance", so you're not wrong really. But at least in my community we use it as I described. If you think about it, Winchester for gun-only makes sense. Otherwise we might have come up with something more clever like Franklin Mint or Airsoft for having a gun that can't shoot.
