What Does A Minigun Look Like? Multi-barreled Machine Gun M134 ...

M134 "Minigan" (M134 Minigun) caliber 7.62mm NATO. The machine gun had an electric drive and a switchable rate of fire - 2000 or 4000 rounds per minute. M134 was massively installed both on the UH-1 "Iroquois", AN-1 "Cobra" helicopters, and on aircraft, including - on the first versions of "gunships" - A / C-47 Spooky. Typical armament of the UH-1H helicopter was 1 or 2 Miniguns with an ammunition load of 10-12 thousand rounds, the AH-1G Cobra helicopter - 1 or 2 M134 in the nose turret with an ammunition load of 4 or 8 thousand rounds (excluding aviation unguided missiles). Later, after the adoption in the United States of a new weapon system chambered for 5.56mm caliber, GE developed a reduced and simplified modification of the M134 chambered for this cartridge, designated XM-214. This machine gun was tested by the aria of the United States, but it never entered service. It provided a rate of fire of up to 10,000 rounds per minute. In addition to those listed, a significant number of Gatling systems have been developed in the United States, including 12.7mm 3-barrel machine guns, 20mm 3 and 6-barrel systems, 25mm caliber 5-barrel systems and 30mm 7-barrel caliber. All these systems are used to arm aircraft (airplanes and helicopters), as well as in anti-aircraft artillery systems.

The principle created by Gatling in the middle of the 19th century is actively used today to develop new weapons.

The idea of ​​​​distributed shooting as a way to increase the rate of fire came and returned

Hundreds of famous gunsmiths have puzzled over the problem of increasing the rate of fire for centuries. However, the modest American doctor Richard Jordan Gatling (Richard Jordan Gatling, 1818–1903) was ahead of everyone. Dr. Gatling had the most harmless medical specialty - he was a homeopath and tried to treat with herbal tinctures soldiers of the North American Union, who were mowed down en masse by colds, pneumonia, dysentery and tuberculosis. His treatment did little to help the sick, and, quickly disillusioned with the possibilities of medicine, Gatling decided to help the unfortunate in a different way.

“I think that if I could create a machine-gun, which, thanks to its rate of fire, would allow one person to do the work of a hundred, then this would largely eliminate the need to raise large armies, and therefore significantly reduce casualties in battle, and especially from diseases,” the good doctor wrote.

Perhaps he was haunted by the glory of his French colleague Dr. Guillotin (Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, 1738–1814), who invented the most effective remedy for headaches, the guillotine. In the design of various techniques, Gatling succeeded much more than in medicine. While still young, he invented several agricultural machines, and in 1862 he patented a type of propeller. In the same year, he presented to the federates his famous machine gun, which, as the doctor hoped, could replace a whole company of shooters.

For some time, revolvers and repeating rifles became the fastest weapons. Individual virtuosos could make one shot per second out of them. However, reloading stores, drums or barrels (there were multi-barreled revolvers) took a lot of time, which might not have been in battle.

Therefore, Dr. Gatling undertook just to create a simple and reliable system for quick reloading. His invention was striking at the same time originality and simplicity. Six barrels (of the first model) were attached to a special rotary block, in the grooves of which there were six gates. When this block began to rotate, each of the barrels (with its own bolt) went through six stages in a circle: opening the bolt, removing the spent cartridge case, sending a new cartridge, closing the bolt, preparing and actually firing.

It was possible to shoot from this machine gun indefinitely until the cartridges run out or until ... the shooter who set this infernal carousel in motion with an ordinary handle got tired. By the way, for this design feature and rate of fire, the system received the nickname "meat grinder".

But the cartridges in it ended very rarely. In the first model, they entered the breech from a utterly simple bunker magazine, in which they lay freely, like cigars in a box. As needed, they were poured there by another assistant shooter. If suddenly the cartridges got stuck and stopped pouring into the receiver, it was enough just to hit the bunker with your fist. For the following, capacious multi-sector stores were created in the form of cylinders or tall boxes.

The Gatling machine gun was not afraid of misfires - and this was its second advantage after the unprecedented rate of fire for that time (200-250 rounds per minute).

The Gatling system was adopted by the powers of the New and Old Worlds. Both its author himself and other designers created on its basis many modifications that differed in caliber, number of barrels and design of magazines.

However, human efforts were only enough to spin the Gatling system up to a maximum of 500 rounds per minute. With the advent of the Hiram Maxim machine gun (Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim, 1840–1916) and other single-barreled self-loading systems reloaded with the power of powder gases, the Gatling system, as less rapid-fire, bulky, and most importantly, manual, was withdrawn from service and forgotten for several decades.

Until the end of World War II, the military was fine with single-barreled machine guns. However, with the advent of high-speed aviation, including jet aircraft, at the end of the war, anti-aircraft gunners needed faster-firing weapons than traditional single-barreled cannons and machine guns, which, at a higher rate of fire, either overheated or their automatics failed.

And then they remembered the multi-barreled Gatling machine guns that were still stored in spare military warehouses. The brainchild of Gatling suddenly revealed two new virtues.

Firstly, with a total rate of fire of the system, say, 600 shots, each of its barrels actually fired only 100 - which means that it warmed up 6 times slower than the barrel of a conventional machine gun with the same rate of fire. At the same time, the trunks rotated, simultaneously cooling with air. Secondly, the rate of fire of the Gatling system depended only on ... the speed of its rotation.

The Americans solved this problem simply - the soldier twisting the handle was replaced with a powerful electric motor. Such an experiment was carried out at the beginning of the 20th century. The result was amazing: the machine guns of the times of the Civil War fired up to 3000 rounds per minute! However, then it was regarded as just a fascinating experience - and did not attach any importance to it.

Multi-barreled machine guns of standard 7.62-mm caliber are mounted on military helicopters.

When, in 1946, the American company General Electric received a contract to develop high-speed aircraft guns, code-named "Project Vulcan", she remembered this experiment.

By 1950, the company presented the first prototypes, and in 1956, a 20-mm six-barreled gun M61 "Volcano" appeared, making 100 rounds per second! "Volcano" was immediately installed on airplanes, helicopters and ships as the main anti-aircraft weapons. In the late 1960s, the Pentagon, which waged war in the jungles of Vietnam, received a 7.62 mm M134 Minigun six-barreled machine gun, which had an electric drive and a switchable rate of fire (2000/4000 rounds per minute). An ammunition load of 10,000 rounds was enough to turn any suspicious grove into silage! And the powerful 30-mm GAU-8 / A, which attack aircraft are armed with, hits armored targets at a distance of up to 2000 meters.

One of the latest developments of the Americans is the XM-214 machine gun, chambered for 5.56 mm. It was intended to be used as a small arms weapon. However, this was not allowed to make a big return, knocking down the strongest shooters, as well as a large mass of ammunition (almost 25 kg), a battery for an electric motor and the machine gun itself. Therefore, now they decided to use it as an easel to protect critical facilities from terrorist attacks.

By the way, the XM-214, which was fired from the hands in the films "Predator" and "Terminator 2", was equipped with special low-power blank cartridges. Electricity was supplied to it through a disguised cable, and the actors were dressed in body armor so that they would not be disfigured by flying cartridges - and even propped up from behind with special hidden stands!

Domestic designers began resuscitation of multi-barrel systems before the Americans - back in 1936, the Kovrov gunsmith Ivan Slostin created an eight-barreled 7.62-mm machine gun that fired 5,000 rounds per minute. Simultaneously with him, the Tula designer Mikhail Nikolayevich Blum (1907-1970) developed a machine gun with a twelve-barrel block of barrels. At the same time, the domestic system had a fundamental difference from the future American one - it was rotated not by an electric motor, but by gases removed from the barrels, which significantly reduced the total mass of the installation. And this difference has been preserved in the future.

Unfortunately, the adoption of multi-barrel systems in the USSR was delayed until a potential enemy had them. Only in the 1960s, the designer Vasily Petrovich Gryazev and the scientist Arkady Grigoryevich Shipunov created the GSH-6-23M aircraft gun with a rotating block of six 23-mm barrels, firing up to 10,000 rounds per minute. Then 30-mm AK-630 ship installations were created, recognized as one of the best in the world! And only the four-barreled machine gun Evgeny Glagolev GSHG-7.62, designed for helicopters, had an American-style electric drive.

And the Tula designer Yuri Zhuravlev created an aircraft gun, which set a record for the rate of fire: 16,000 rounds per minute! Apparently, this is the limit of the rate of fire: during the tests, unable to withstand the high speed of rotation, its trunks scattered in different directions. And now the Gatling system is being replaced by new ones - with even more barrels and a truly fantastic rate of fire.

Multi-barrel guns of domestic manufacture began to be put into service with the Soviet army from the 1970s.

Photo: Don S. Montgomery, US Navy Tsgt David W. Richards, USAF

Multi-barreled machine gun M134 "Minigun" (Minigan) manufactured by General Electric on a pedestal-type mount (mid-1960s).

Multi-barreled machine gun M134D "Minigun" (Minigun) manufactured by Dillon Aero (modern issue), complete with engine and belt feed sleeve.

Multi-barreled machine gun M134D "Minigun" (Minigan) manufactured by Dillon Aero (modern issue), mounted on the roof of an army jeep.

Multi-barreled machine gun M134D "Minigun" (Minigun) manufactured by Dillon Aero (modern issue) on a marine pedestal mount, complete with cartridge box.

Multi-barreled machine gun M134 "Minigun" (Minigun) on an infantry machine; weapons on such an installation in the armed forces are practically not used.

Data machine gun M134D Minigun modern release

The development of a 7.62mm multi-barreled machine gun was started by the American company General Electric in 1960. These works were based on the 20mm M61 Vulcan 6-barreled aircraft gun (M61 Vulcan), created by the same company for the US Air Force based on the Gatling gun multi-barrel gun system. The first experimental six-barreled 7.62mm machine guns appeared in 1962, and already in 1964, such machine guns were installed on the AC-47 aircraft for firing perpendicular to the aircraft's course (from the windows and doors of the fuselage) at ground targets (North Vietnamese infantry). Upon the successful use of new machine guns, called "Minigun" (Minigan), General Electric launched their mass production. These machine guns were adopted under the M134 (US Army) and GAU-2 / A (US Navy and Air Force) indices. By 1971, the US military had more than 10 thousand Miniguns, most of which were installed on helicopters operating in Vietnam. A number of Miniguns were also installed on small river boats of the US Navy, operating in Vietnam, including in the interests of special forces. Due to the high density of fire, Miniguns proved to be an excellent means of suppressing lightly armed North Vietnamese infantry, however, the need for electrical power and a very high consumption of cartridges limited their use mainly to vehicles. Some time after the end of the Vietnam War, the production of Miniguns was practically curtailed, however, since the beginning of the 1990s, the involvement of the United States in a number of conflicts in the Middle East led to the fact that the production of modernized versions of the machine gun, which received the M134D index, was deployed under license from the American company Dillon Aero . New machine guns are mounted on helicopters, ships (on light boats for special forces support - as a means of fire support, large ships - as a means of protection against enemy speedboats and boats), as well as on jeeps (as a means of fire suppression to combat ambushes, etc. .). It is interesting that the photos of Miniguns on infantry tripods in most cases are not related to military service. The fact is that in the United States, in principle, the possession of automatic weapons is allowed, and a number of citizens and private companies own a certain number of Miniguns produced before 1986. These machine guns can be seen at shootings periodically organized for everyone, such as the Knob Creek machine gun shot. As for the possibility of shooting from the M134 in Hollywood style - i.e. from the hands, then here (even distracting from the mass of weapons and ammunition to it) it is enough to remember that the recoil force of the M134D Minigun machine gun at a rate of fire of "only" 3,000 rounds per minute (50 rounds per second) averages 68 kg , with a peak recoil force of up to 135 kg.

Multi-barreled machine gun M134 "Minigun" (Minigun) uses automation with an external drive of mechanisms from a DC electric motor. As a rule, the engine is powered from the carrier's on-board network with a voltage of 24-28 Volts with a current consumption of about 60 Amperes (M134D machine gun with a rate of fire of 3000 rounds per minute; power consumption of the order of 1.5 kW). Through a system of gears, the engine rotates a block of 6 barrels. The firing cycle is divided into several separate operations carried out simultaneously on different barrels of the block. The supply of a cartridge to the barrel is usually carried out at the upper point of rotation of the block, by the time the barrel comes to the lowest position, the cartridge is already fully loaded into the barrel and the bolt is locked, and a shot is fired in the lower position of the barrel. When the barrel moves up in a circle, the spent cartridge case is removed and ejected. The locking of the barrel is carried out by turning the combat larva of the shutter, the movement of the shutters is controlled by a closed curved groove on the inner surface of the machine gun casing, along which the rollers placed on each shutter move. Cartridges can be fed from a standard loose belt or using a linkless cartridge feed mechanism. In the first case, a special "delinker" mechanism is placed on the machine gun, which extracts the cartridges from the tape before feeding them into the machine gun. The tape is fed to the machine gun through a special metal flexible sleeve from boxes with a typical capacity of 1500 (gross weight 58 kg) to 4500 (gross weight 134 kg) cartridges. On heavy helicopters (CH-53, CH-47), the capacity of ammunition boxes for powering one machine gun can reach 10,000 or even more rounds. To control the electric motor (as well as the optional booster for the tape feed mechanism), a special electronics unit is mounted on the machine gun. On this block is installed the main switch ("master arm" switch) and the release keys on the fire control handles (if the machine gun is used in the version with manual guidance). The rate of fire of the Minigan machine gun is usually determined by the power of the electric motor and the adjustment of the electronic unit. Early versions of machine guns often had two rates of fire (say 2 and 4 or 3 and 6 thousand rounds per minute, the choice was made using two triggers), modern M134D machine guns basically have only one fixed rate of fire - 3 or 4 thousand rounds per minute . The main installations for Miniguns are various pivot, turret and pedestal installations, which provide electricity and ammunition supply and transfer the weapon's powerful recoil to the carrier.

The M134 Minigun machine gun is often used by Hollywood directors to create an epic picture when displaying combat confrontations. Alternative names for weapons are "meat grinder", "jolly Sam", "magic dragon". These "nicknames" characterize the product in accordance with its typical growling sound and strong fiery flash when fired. Consider its features and real possibilities.

Development and creation

The M134 Minigun machine gun was originally developed by the American company GE back in 1960. Its caliber was calculated at 7.62 millimeters. The weapon being created was based on the M61 Vulcan aircraft gun. This model was built for the air force, combined with the capabilities of the Gatling gun. The first prototypes of the 7.62 mm caliber appeared in 1962. Two years later, weapons began to be mounted on AC-74 aircraft. This decision made it possible to ensure perpendicular firing along the course of the aircraft. This design performed well with the support of the North Vietnamese infantry, firing from the windows and doors of the fuselage at ground targets.

Given the success of the tests in theory and practice, General Electric Corporation began their mass production. These models were put into service under the indices M134 and GAU-124. In the early 70s of the last century, the US Army had over ten thousand copies of the M134 Miniguns. Most of them were mounted on helicopters stationed in Vietnam. The remaining versions were installed on river boats transporting special forces.

History of creation

The original idea for the development of these weapons was planned from the middle of the last century. At the same time, the creators wanted to introduce into the design the maximum possible indicators of power, rate of fire and aiming. All copies were built at the leading plants specializing in metal processing and firearm structures. As a result, a unique device appeared, designed for firing from cover or purposefully.

Initially, it was planned to release the installation with a caliber of 12.5 mm. However, the power of over 500 kgf at a speed of 6 thousand volleys per minute brought the idea to a standstill. The updated Minigun machine gun was tested in action on an AC-74 fire support aircraft, which was designed to support infantry from the air. The specialists liked the gun so much that after a few months they began to mount it on aircraft such as the UH-1 and AH-1 Cobra.

Peculiarities

The ability to adjust the firing mode of a multi-barreled machine gun made it possible to install this model on twin installations. At the same time, firing at the target ended with the shedding of its remains with spent lead. This unit terrified the rebels of North Vietnam, who simply fled in a panic after shelling forests and ambushes. By the 1970s alone, more than 10 thousand copies were created, which were mainly used to equip transport and assault helicopters. In addition, light boats and boats were equipped with such devices.

Partially considered weapons were installed on wheeled transport vehicles. However, in the event of a battery failure, the Minigun M134 machine gun worked for no more than 2-3 minutes. A few years later, the civilian version sold well in the US states, especially in Texas. The operation of the product was carried out with the help of infantry bipods with a stock of a thousand ammunition. For the correct operation of the gun, a constant supply source was required. The supply of cartridges was carried out by wiring a standard tape by sending charges without using links. In the first version, a cartridge case extraction mechanism with a special flexible metal sleeve is mounted on the gun.

Characteristics of the "Minigan M134"

Below are the main parameters of the weapon in question:

Principle of operation

Machine-gun "Minigan" M134, the description of which is given above, is focused on the defense of stationary structures. As an offensive weapon, this modification was absolutely unsuitable. With a mass of 30 kilograms and a supply of ammunition for 4.5 thousand rounds, no more than a minute was spent in battle until it was completely discharged.

The operation of the unit can be described as follows:

• automation operates from an external drive mechanism with a DC electric motor;
• the design includes three gears and a worm drive;
• block of six trunks;
• the charge-discharge cycle is divided into several stages, which manifest themselves at the junction of the receiver unit with the box.

Exploitation

Moving up and in a circle, the barrel simultaneously removes and ejects the spent cartridge case. The constipation of the barrel is carried out by turning the combat mask along with the movement of the shutters. The last elements are controlled by a groove of a curvilinear configuration. Power is supplied by a linkless supply of charges or by a belt mechanism.

The required rate of fire is guaranteed by an electronic specialized unit, which is equipped with a rate of fire switch and an activation button located on the gun handle. The modern variation of the machine gun in question has two versions of firing: 2 and 4 thousand volleys per minute. In working condition, there is no rejection of the trunk or its removal to the side. The cartridge is sent using a special mechanism that is responsible for the reliability and uninterrupted sending of charges from the very beginning of firing.

Equipment

On the machine gun "Minigan M134" it is possible to mount diopter, collimator and other sighting devices that are needed when using tracer ammunition. In this case, the trace after the shot is bright and visible, similar to a fiery stream.

It should be noted that the M134 was never shown on the movie screen in real display. This is due to the fact that the strongest recoil and loud sound can knock a person down and put him into a stupor. For filming cult films, analogues of the XM214 type (caliber - 5.4 mm) were used, the return of which fit into the face value of about 100 kg. Paradoxically, the second version was in no way suitable for the army, due to its small size and low rate of fire. But for the "cinema" Hollywood, he fit perfectly.

Outcome

It should be emphasized that the development and operation of the M134 Minigun machine guns is focused on equipping transport, assault aircraft and military water transport. The effectiveness of the weapon was shown in the campaigns in Vietnam and Iraq. At the same time, the economic side is incomparably more significant than the practical aspect, which became a prerequisite for removing the machine gun from service.

The development of a 7.62-mm multi-barreled machine gun was started by the American company General Electric in 1960. These works were based on the M61 Vulcan 6-barreled 20 mm aircraft gun, created by the same company for the US Air Force based on the Gatling gun multi-barrel gun system. The first experimental six-barreled machine guns of 7.62 mm caliber appeared in 1962, and already in 1964 such machine guns were installed on the AC-47 aircraft for firing perpendicular to the aircraft's course (from the windows and doors of the fuselage) at ground targets. On the fact of the successful use of new machine guns, called "Minigun", General Electric launched their mass production. These machine guns were put into service under the indices M134 Minigun(US Army) and GAU-2/A(US Navy and Air Force). By 1971, the US military had more than 10 thousand machine guns, most of which were installed on helicopters operating in Vietnam. A number of M134 Miniguns were also installed on small US Navy river boats operating in Vietnam, including in the interests of special forces.

Due to the high density of fire, machine guns M134 Minigun proved to be an excellent means of suppressing lightly armed North Vietnamese infantry, however, the need for power supply and the very high consumption of cartridges limited their use mainly to vehicles. Some time after the end of the Vietnam War, the production of the M134 Minigun machine gun was practically curtailed, however, since the beginning of the 1990s, the United States was drawn into a number of conflicts in the Middle East, which led to the fact that the production of modernized versions of the machine gun, which received the M134D index, was deployed under license from an American company Dillon Aero. New machine guns are mounted on helicopters, ships (on light boats for special forces support - as a means of fire support, large ships - as a means of protection against enemy speedboats and boats), as well as on jeeps (as a means of fire suppression to combat ambushes, etc. .).

Interestingly, the photos of the M134 Minigun on tripod infantry mounts in most cases are not related to military service. The fact is that in the United States, in principle, possession of automatic weapons is allowed, and a number of citizens and private companies own a certain number of M134 Miniguns manufactured before 1986. These machine guns can be seen at shootings periodically organized for everyone, such as the Knob Creek machine gun shot. As for being able to fire the M134 Minigun in Hollywood style - ie. from the hands, then here (even distracting from the mass of weapons and ammunition for it) it is enough to remember that the recoil force of the M134D Minigun machine gun at a rate of fire of "only" 3000 rounds per minute (50 rounds per second) averages 68 kg, with a peak recoil force of up to 135 kg.

Multi-barreled machine gun M134 Minigun uses automation with an external drive of mechanisms from a DC electric motor. As a rule, the engine is powered from the on-board network of the carrier with a voltage of 24-28 Volts with a current consumption of about 60 Amperes (M134D machine gun with a rate of fire of 3000 rounds per minute; power consumption of the order of 1.5 kW). Through a system of gears, the engine rotates a block of 6 barrels. The firing cycle is divided into several separate operations carried out simultaneously on different barrels of the block. As a standard, the axes of the barrel bores are parallel, but if necessary, they can be given some angle to ensure the convergence of the trajectories of the bullets. Behind the barrels is a block of longitudinally sliding bolts (breech) rotating with them, the bolt locks the bore by turning its larva. Cartridges are fed into the breech by tape. The cartridge is removed from the tape and placed in the groove in front of the open bolt, as the block rotates, the bolt moves forward, gradually sending the cartridge into the chamber, the cocked drummer descends at the extreme front point, a shot occurs, after which the spent cartridge case is removed and ejected, and the bolt, completing the cycle automation, picks up a new cartridge. When the trigger is released, the power system is turned off to avoid the risk of self-ignition of the cartridge in the short period of time during which the block of barrels and bolts is braked.

Cartridges can be fed from a standard loose belt or using a linkless cartridge feed mechanism. In the first case, a special "delinker" mechanism is placed on the machine gun, which extracts cartridges from the belt before feeding them into the machine gun. The tape is fed to the machine gun through a special metal flexible sleeve from boxes with a typical capacity of 1500 (gross weight 58 kg) to 4500 (gross weight 134 kg) cartridges. On heavy helicopters (CH-53, CH-47), the capacity of ammunition boxes for powering one machine gun can reach 10,000 or even more rounds. To control the electric motor (as well as the optional booster for the tape feed mechanism), a special electronics unit is mounted on the machine gun. On this block is installed the main switch ("master arm" switch) and the release keys on the fire control handles (if the machine gun is used in the version with manual guidance). The rate of fire of the M134 Minigun machine gun is usually determined by the power of the electric motor and the adjustment of the electronic unit. Early versions of machine guns often had two rates of fire (say 2 and 4 or 3 and 6 thousand rounds per minute, the choice was made using two triggers), modern M134D machine guns basically have only one fixed rate of fire - 3 or 4 thousand rounds per minute . The main installations for Miniguns are various pivot, turret and pedestal installations, which provide electricity and ammunition supply and transfer the weapon's powerful recoil to the carrier.

Machine gun M134 Minigun / GAU-2/A used in suspended and turret installations. In particular, it is installed in a SUU-11B suspended container manufactured by General Electric. Container length 2160 mm, diameter 350 mm. The weight of the container without ammunition is 109 kg, with ammunition - 145 kg. Ammunition capacity - 1500 rounds. The machine gun is fixedly fixed in the SUU-11B suspension mount. The maximum flight speed of the aircraft, at which firing from a machine gun is allowed, corresponds to the number M = 1.2. The installation is mounted on the external hardpoints of tactical fighters, helicopters and aircraft of army aviation, naval aviation and marines. In addition, Emerson Electric's TAT-141 turrets are equipped with the 7.62 mm M134 Minigun machine gun. The TAT-141 nose turret mounts 2 M134 Minigun machine guns or an M134 Minigun machine gun and an XM129 grenade launcher, or two grenade launchers. When installing two machine guns, the TAT-141 ammunition load is 6000 rounds, and the weight is about 305 kg. Firing angles of the TAT-141 installation: horizontally ±120", vertically from -60 to +20". Guidance drives are electric. The turret can be controlled by both pilots (the co-pilot is also the gunner). If the shooter loses control of the turret during combat, it will automatically return to the neutral position. The pilot can continue firing, providing guidance to the target by maneuvering the helicopter. Turret TAT-141 is equipped with helicopters AH-56, AH-1 "Hugh Cobra" and others.

The performance characteristics of the M134 Minigun / GAU-2/A Cartridge: 7.62x51 NATO Full length: 800 mm Barrel length: 559 mm Machine gun weight without cartridges: 15.90 kg Machine gun weight with electric motor: 26.80 kg Grooves: 4 right hand Feeding system: 4000-round belt Rate of fire: up to 6000 rds / min

Marking Usually a plate is riveted to the casing, on which the nomenclature designation of the weapon, serial number, account number, as well as the inscription "GENERAL ELECTRIC CO" or "ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL" are indicated.

Circuit breakers The safety of handling these weapons is provided simply by a switch that opens the power circuit of the electric motor that rotates the block of barrels and breech, and is a function of the control panel, and not the mechanisms of the weapon itself.

Vacuum Unloading is not necessary because the control system stops feeding cartridges and ensures that the chambers are emptied as soon as the trigger or release button is released. The weapon is constantly unloaded, except when it is firing.

Alternatively, you can purchase for filming a movie, or as a gift. Looks very impressive. The price is for a set with a tripod and a box. Not a weapon, a replica, only for civilian use.

Also sold separately box and tripod.

• Wooden box 4000 rub.
• Khaki box 5000 rub.
• Tripod 5000 rub.

Minigun, army index - M134, aviation index - SUU-11 and GAU-2 (container), GAU-17 (easel), naval index - Mk 25) is the name of a family of multi-barreled rapid-fire machine guns built according to the Gatling scheme.

Impact on culture

In the movie "Predator" (eng. Predator, 1987), the minigun is used by actor Jesse Ventura, the future governor of Minnesota. According to military historian Gordon L Rottman, the use of a minigun as a wearable weapon is impossible for several reasons, including weight (78 kg including the necessary batteries) and recoil (67 kgf average, 135 kgf peak). However, later, the heftiness and impossibility of use were refuted by enthusiasts. The minigun was used as a portable machine gun in the films Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Expendables 3, Fast and Furious 7, Judgment Night 2 by James DeMonaco, as well as in the computer games Wolfenstein 3D, Fallout and GTA ". In the weapon simulation game "World of Guns: Gun Disassembly" you can get acquainted with the real functioning of the 3D model of the M134D minigun.

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