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56-576: The Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23 (Russian: ГШ-23 ) is a twin-barreled 23 mm autocannon developed in the Soviet Union , primarily for military aircraft use. It entered service in 1965, replacing the earlier Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 and Rikhter R-23 . The GSh-23 works on the Gast Gun principle developed by German engineer Karl Gast of the Vorwerk company in 1916. It is a twin-barreled weapon in which

112-488: A direct fire mode to defeat a variety of ground targets at all ranges, including dug-in infantry, lightly armored vehicles, and especially other heavily armored tanks. They must provide accuracy, range, penetration, and rapid fire in a package that is as compact and lightweight as possible, to allow mounting in the cramped confines of an armored gun turret . Tank guns generally use self-contained ammunition, allowing rapid loading (or use of an autoloader ). They often display

168-717: A bulge in the barrel, which is a bore evacuator , or a device on the muzzle , which is a muzzle brake . The first tanks were used to break through trench defences in support of infantry actions particularly machine gun positions during the First World War and they were fitted with machine guns or high explosive firing guns of modest calibre. These were naval or field artillery pieces stripped from their carriages and mounted in sponsons or casemates on armored vehicles. The early British Mark I tanks of 1916 used two naval 57 mm QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss mounted either side in sponsons. These guns proved too long for use in

224-598: A consequence, fighters at the time had cannons added back in external "gun pods", and virtually all fighter aircraft retain autocannons in integral internal mounts to this day. After the Second World War, autocannons continued to serve as a versatile weapon in land, sea, and air applications. Examples of modern autocannons include the 25 mm Oerlikon KBA mounted on the IFV Freccia , the M242 Bushmaster mounted on

280-401: A longer effective range and greater terminal performance than machine guns, due to the use of larger/heavier munitions (most often in the range of 20–60 mm (0.79–2.36 in), but bigger calibers also exist), but are usually smaller than tank guns , howitzers , field guns , or other artillery . When used on its own, the word "autocannon" typically indicates a non-rotary weapon with

336-586: A modern autocannon ranges from 90 rounds per minute , in the case of the British RARDEN, to 2,500 rounds per minute with the GIAT 30 . Rotary systems with multiple barrels can achieve over 10,000 rounds per minute (the Russian GSh-6-23 , for example). Such extremely high rates of fire are effectively employed by aircraft in aerial dogfights and close air support on ground targets via strafing attacks, where

392-465: A rate of over 200 rounds a minute: much faster than conventional artillery while possessing a much longer range and more firepower than the infantry rifle . In 1913, Reinhold Becker and his Stahlwerke Becker firm designed the 20mm Becker cannon , addressing the German Empire 's perceived need for heavy-calibre aircraft armament. The Imperial Government's Spandau Arsenal assisted them in perfecting

448-492: A role to which they were suited as tank armour is often lightest on top. The Polish 20 mm 38 Fk auto cannon was expensive to produce, but an exception. Unlike the Oerlikon, it was effective against all the tanks fielded in 1939, largely because it was built as an upgrade to the Oerlikon, Hispano-Suiza, and Madsen. It even proved capable of knocking out early Panzer IIIs and IVs, albeit with great difficulty. Only 55 were produced by

504-524: A short period of time. The development of guided missiles was thought to render cannons unnecessary and a full generation of western fighter aircraft was built without them. In contrast, all Eastern Bloc aircraft kept their guns. During the Vietnam War , however, the United States Air Force realized that cannons were useful for firing warning shots and for attacking targets that did not warrant

560-600: A single barrel . When multiple rotating barrels are involved, such a weapon is referred to as a "rotary autocannon" or occasionally " rotary cannon ", for short (particularly on aircraft). Autocannons are heavy weapons that are unsuitable for use by infantry . Due to the heavy weight and recoil , they are typically installed on fixed mounts , wheeled carriages , ground combat vehicles , aircraft , or watercraft , and are almost always crew-served , or even remote-operated with automatic target recognition / acquisition (e.g. sentry guns and naval CIWS ). As such, ammunition

616-407: A single cannon shell with a high-explosive payload could instantly sever essential structural elements, penetrate armour or open up a fuel tank beyond the capacity of self-sealing compounds to counter, even from fairly long range. (Instead of explosives, such shells could carry incendiaries, also highly effective at destroying planes, or a combination of explosives and incendiaries.) Thus by the end of

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672-593: Is also mounted on late small series Mi-24 VP helicopters (in the NPPU-23 movable mounting) and Polish W-3WA Sokół helicopter in fixed mounting. The cannon was also used on cargo aircraft; specifically, Russian/Soviet Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft were designed to accommodate twin GSh-23's in a tail turret. An Il-76M with just such a configuration could be seen at the 2002 Ivanovo airshow. Some second generation MiG-21 models could carry

728-416: Is improved over earlier weapons by computerized fire-control systems, wind sensors, thermal sleeves , and muzzle referencing systems which compensate for barrel warping, wear and temperature. Fighting capability at night, in poor weather, and smoke was improved by infrared , light-intensification , and thermal imaging equipment. Technology of the guns themselves has had only a few innovations. For decades

784-437: Is limited; for extremely long ranges cannon-launched guided projectiles (CLGPs) are considered more accurate. The use of the autoloader has been a development favoured by some nations and not others. Some countries adopted it as a means to keep the overall size of the tank down. Interest has also been shown as a means to protect the crew by separating them further from the gun and ammunition. For example, an autoloader allows

840-407: Is regarded as the archetypal modern revolver cannon . With multiple chambers and a single barrel, autocannons using the revolver principle can combine a very high rate of fire and high acceleration to its maximum firing rate with low weight, at cost of a reduced sustained rate of fire compared to rotary cannon. They are therefore used mainly in aircraft for AA purposes, in which a target is visible for

896-458: Is typically fed from a belt system to reduce reloading pauses or for a faster rate of fire , but magazines remain an option. Common types of ammunition, among a wide variety, include HEIAP , HEDP and more specialised armour-piercing (AP) munitions, mainly composite rigid ( APCR ) and discarding sabot ( APDS ) rounds. Capable of generating extremely rapid firepower , autocannons overheat quickly if used for sustained fire, and are limited by

952-609: The M2/M3 Bradley , updated versions of the Bofors 40 mm gun , and the Mauser BK-27 . The 20 mm M61A1 is an example of an electrically powered rotary autocannon. Another role that has come into association with autocannons are that of close-in weapon systems on naval vessels, which are used to destroy anti-ship missiles and low flying aircraft. Tank gun As the tank's primary armament, they are almost always employed in

1008-562: The Messerschmitt 410 Hornisse (Hornet) bomber destroyer. 300 examples of the BK 5 cannon were built, more than all other versions. The PaK 40 semi-automatic 7.5 cm calibre anti-tank gun was the basis for the BK 7,5 in the Junkers Ju 88 P-1 heavy fighter and Henschel Hs 129 B-3 twin engined ground attack aircraft. The German Mauser MK 213 was developed at the end of the Second World War and

1064-736: The MiG-23 , the SOKO J-22 Orao , the JF-17 Thunder , the HAL Tejas , the Aero L-39ZA Albatros and IAR 93 , and the tail turrets of the Tupolev Tu-22M bomber and some late-model Tu-95MS and Tu-142M3 . In the latter application, it had the unusual ability to fire infrared flares and chaff rounds, allowing it to function as both a weapon and a dispenser of anti-missile countermeasures. It

1120-581: The Oerlikon 20 mm , the Bofors 40 mm and various German Rheinmetall autocannons would see widespread use by both sides during the Second World War; not only in an anti-aircraft role, but as a weapon for use against ground targets as well. Heavier anti-aircraft cannon had difficulty tracking fast-moving aircraft and were unable to accurately judge altitude or distance, while machine guns possessed insufficient range and firepower to bring down aircraft consistently. Continued ineffectiveness against aircraft despite

1176-618: The QF 2-pounder (40 mm) and 37 mm equipped British cruiser tanks and infantry tanks in the late 1930s. These weapons lacked a good high-explosive shell for attacking infantry and fortifications, but were effective against the light armor of the time. World War II saw a leapfrog growth in all areas of military technology. Battlefield experience led to increasingly powerful weapons being adopted. Guns with calibres from 20 mm to 40 mm soon gave way to 50 mm, 75 mm, 85 mm, 88 mm, 90 mm, and 122 mm calibre. In 1939,

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1232-704: The SU-100 ). The relative superiority in armament of tank destroyers was only relative, however: for instance, the SU-85 was a casemate-type TD on the T-34 chassis that was rendered obsolete once the basic T-34 switched from the 76 mm gun to the same 85 mm cannon, producing the T-34-85 . By the end of the war the variety in tank designs had narrowed and the concept of the main battle tank emerged. The race to increase caliber slowed, with just slight increases between tank generations. In

1288-522: The Su-17/-20/-22 as well as the Su-25/-39 in pairs). Autocannon An autocannon , automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large- caliber (20 mm/0.79 in or more) armour-piercing , explosive or incendiary shells , as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles ( bullets ) fired by a machine gun . Autocannons have

1344-515: The American offensive and mobile reserve model, which favoured lightly-armed open-top vehicles with a rotating turret and a powerful anti-tank-capable gun while relegating true tanks to infantry support role (exemplified by the M10 tank destroyer ); and the casemate gun mount model, which often allowed the resultant vehicle to be hard to hit and have a well-sloped and heavily armoured glacis plate (for instance,

1400-510: The British tank designs as they would come into contact with obstacles and the ground on uneven terrain, and the succeeding Mark IV tank of 1917 was equipped with the shortened 6 pounder 6 cwt version which can be considered the first specialised tank gun. The first German tank, the A7V , used British-made 57 mm Maxim-Nordenfelt fortification guns captured from Belgium and Russia, mounted singly at

1456-626: The GSh-23L in an under-fuselage gondola designated the GP-9 , carrying the cannon and 200 rounds of ammunition; this was replaced by a more streamlined semi-conformal installation in later variants. There are also several gun pods available for mounting on external hardpoints: UPK-23 for air-to-air use, with one or two fixed GSh-23 guns and 200–400 rounds of ammunition, and SPPU-22 pods with traversable barrels for strafing, from 0° to −30° and carried 280 rounds of ammunition in each (they were most often carried by

1512-504: The German MG-42 . The Gast principle has been little used in the West, but was used on a variety of weapons in the former Soviet Union . The cannon comes in a basic GSh-23 variant, and the more popular GSh-23L ( ГШ-23Л ), differing mostly in adding a muzzle brake , lowering recoil force. This cannon was standard fit on late-model MiG-21 fighters (M, SM, MF, SMT, PFM, bis), all variants of

1568-679: The Watervliet Arsenal for the US Abrams M1A1 tank using de Graffenried's patented high-precision manufacturing inventions. Based on their experience with the 2A28 Grom gun/missile system of the BMP-1 , the Soviets produced the T-64 B main battle tank, with an auto-loaded 2A46 125 mm smoothbore high-velocity tank gun , capable of firing APFSDS ammunition as well as ATGMs. Similar guns continue to be used in

1624-502: The West, guns of around 90 mm gave way to the ubiquitous 105 mm Royal Ordnance L7 , introduced in 1958. This lasted a long while, with a shift to 120 mm in the late 1970s and early 1980s (the UK changed in the late 1960s with their Chieftain tank). In the East, the 85 mm quickly yielded to the 100 mm and 115 mm U-5TS gun, with the 125 mm caliber now standard. Most of

1680-459: The amount of ammunition that can be carried by the weapons systems mounting them. Both the US 25 mm M242 Bushmaster and the British 30 mm RARDEN have relatively slow rates of fire so as not to deplete ammunition too quickly. The Oerlikon KBA 25 mm has a relatively mid-high rate of fire 650 rounds per minute but can be electronically programmed to 175-200 rounds per minute. The rate of fire of

1736-426: The average tank had to grow as well to carry the ammunition, mounting, and protection for these powerful guns. While high velocity tank guns were effective against other tanks, for the most part British tanks moved to a dual purpose 75 mm gun capable of firing a useful HE shell; later in the war adding 76 mm 17pdr gun armed tanks for better antitank capability. Many nations devised " tank destroyers " during

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1792-593: The dawn of World War II , when most tank guns were still modifications of existing artillery pieces, and were expected to primarily be used against unarmored targets. The larger caliber, shorter range artillery mounting did not go away however. Tanks intended specifically for infantry support (the infantry tanks ), expected to take out emplacements and infantry concentrations, carried large calibre weapons to fire large high-explosive shells—though these could be quite effective against other vehicles at close ranges. In some designs – for example, M3 Lee , Churchill , Char B1 –

1848-478: The difference in operation between smoothbore and rifled guns shows in the type of secondary ammunition that they fire, with a smoothbore gun being ideal for firing HEAT rounds (although specially designed HEAT rounds can be fired from rifled guns) and rifling being necessary to fire HESH rounds. Most modern main battle tanks now carry a smoothbore gun. A notable exception are the tanks of the British Army which used

1904-553: The earlier phases of the war, the Japanese aircraft they dealt with were not only unusually lightly built but went without either armour plate or self-sealing tanks in order to reduce their weight. Nevertheless, the U.S. also adopted planes fitted with autocannon, such as the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, despite experiencing technical difficulties with developing and manufacturing these large-calibre automatic guns. Weapons such as

1960-412: The end of 1915 , almost entirely replaced wood and fabric biplanes . At the same time as they began to be made from stronger materials, the machines also increased in speed, streamlining, power and size, and it began to be apparent that correspondingly more powerful weapons would be needed to counter them. Conversely, they were becoming much better able to carry exactly such larger and more powerful guns;

2016-464: The expenditure of a (much more expensive) missile, and, more importantly, as an additional weapon if the aircraft had expended all its missiles or enemy aircraft were inside of the missiles' minimum target acquisition range in a high-G close range engagement. This was particularly important with the lower reliability of early air-to-air missile technology, such as that employed during the Vietnam War. As

2072-464: The firing action of one barrel operates the mechanism of the other. It provides a much faster rate of fire for lower mechanical wear than a single-barrel weapon. Although it cannot match the sustained rate of fire of an electric Rotary cannon like the M61 Vulcan , it requires no external power source to operate, but is instead powered by the recoiling of the floating barrels, somewhat like the action of

2128-613: The front. The early French Schneider CA1 mounted a short 75 mm gun in a sponson on the right hand side, while the Saint-Chamond mounted a standard 75 mm field gun in the nose. The thin armour of the tanks meant that such weapons were effective against other vehicles, though the Germans fielded few tanks anyway and the Allied tanks concentrated on anti-infantry and infantry support activities. This thinking remained pervasive into

2184-576: The fuselage or wings. The 37 mm BK 3,7 cannon, based on the German Army's 3.7 cm FlaK 43 anti-aircraft autocannon was mounted in pairs in underwing gun pods on a small number of specialized Stuka Panzerknacker (tank buster) aircraft. The BK 5 cm cannon , based on the 5 cm KwK 39 cannon of the Panzer III , was installed in Ju 88P bomber destroyers , which also used other Bordkanone models, and in

2240-483: The guns in aircraft failed, as the weight severely limited both speed and altitude, thus making successful interception impossible. The more effective QF 2 pounder naval gun would be developed during the war to serve as an anti-aircraft and close range defensive weapon for naval vessels. Autocannons would serve to a much greater extent and effect during the Second World War . The German Panzer II light tank, which

2296-454: The guns were almost exclusively rifled , but now most new tanks have smoothbore guns. Rifling in the barrel imparts spin on the projectile to stabilized it, improving ballistic accuracy. The best traditional antitank weapons have been kinetic energy rounds, whose penetrating power and accuracy is greatly decreased with the loss in muzzle velocity at extended range. For longer ranges high-explosive anti-tank rounds are more effective, but accuracy

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2352-670: The improvements were instead made in ammunition and fire-control systems . With kinetic energy penetrator rounds, solid shot and armour-piercing shell gave way to armour-piercing discarding sabot ( APDS ) (a product of 1944), and fin-stabilized ( APFSDS ) rounds with tungsten or depleted uranium penetrators. Parallel developments brought rounds based on chemical energy; high-explosive squash head (HESH), and shaped-charge high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT), with penetrating power independent of muzzle velocity or range. Stadiametric range-finders were successively replaced by coincidence and laser rangefinders . Accuracy of modern tank guns

2408-427: The introduction of self sealing fuel tanks provided reliable protection against these small projectiles. These new defenses, synergistically with the general robustness of new aircraft designs and of course their sheer speed, which made simply shooting them accurately in the first place far more difficult, entailed that it took a lot of such bullets and a fair amount of luck to cause them critical damage; but potentially

2464-419: The large numbers installed during the second World War led, in the West, to the removal of almost all shipboard anti-aircraft weapons in the early post-war period. This was only reversed with the introduction of computer-controlled systems. The German Luftwaffe deployed small numbers of the experimental Bordkanone series of heavy aircraft cannon in 37, 50 and 75 mm calibres, mounted in gun pods under

2520-542: The larger bore weapons were mounted within the tank hull while a second gun for use against tanks was fitted in a turret. However, other strategists saw new roles for tanks in war, and wanted more specifically developed guns tailored to these missions. The ability to destroy enemy tanks was foremost on their minds. To this end, the emerging anti-tank gun designs were modified to fit tanks. These weapons fired smaller shells, but at higher velocities with higher accuracy, improving their performance against armor. Such light guns as

2576-488: The latest Russian T-90 , Ukrainian T-84 , and Serbian M-84AS MBTs. The German company Rheinmetall developed a more conventional 120 mm smoothbore tank gun which can fire LAHAT missiles, adopted for the Leopard 2 , and later the U.S. M1 Abrams . The chief advantages of smoothbore designs are their greater suitability for fin stabilised ammunition and their greatly reduced barrel wear compared with rifled designs. Much of

2632-569: The ordnance. Although only about 500+ examples of the original Becker design were made during World War I, the design's patent was acquired by the Swiss Oerlikon Contraves firm in 1924, with the Third Reich's Ikaria-Werke firm of Berlin using Oerlikon design patents in creating the MG FF wingmount cannon ordnance. The Imperial Japanese Navy 's Type 99 cannon , adopted and produced in 1939,

2688-472: The standard German panzer had either a 20 mm or 37 mm medium-velocity weapon, but by 1945 long-barrelled 75 mm and 88 mm high-velocity guns were common. The Soviets introduced their 122 mm in a turreted heavy tank series, the IS tanks . Shells were improved to provide better penetration with harder materials and scientific shaping. All of these meant improvements in accuracy and range, although

2744-554: The target dwell time is short and weapons are typically operated in brief bursts. The first modern autocannon was the British QF 1-pounder , also known as the "pom-pom". This was essentially an enlarged version of the Maxim gun , which was the first successful fully automatic machine gun, requiring no outside stimulus in its firing cycle other than holding the trigger. The pom-pom fired 1 pound (0.45 kg) gunpowder-filled explosive shells at

2800-451: The technology of which was in the meantime also developing, providing significantly improved rates of fire and reliability. When the Second World War did break out, it was swiftly realised that the power of contemporary aircraft allowed armour plate to be fitted to protect the pilot and other vulnerable areas. This innovation proved highly effective against rifle-calibre machine gun rounds, which tended to ricochet off harmlessly. Similarly

2856-616: The time of the Polish Defensive War. However it was in the air war that these weapons played their most important part in the conflict. During the First World War, rifle-calibre machine guns became the standard weapons of military aircraft. In the Second, several factors brought about their replacement by autocannon. During the inter-war years, aircraft underwent extensive evolution and the all-metal monoplane , pioneered as far back as

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2912-674: The use of an unmanned turret in the T-14 Armata . In the 1960s, smoothbore tank guns were developed by the United States, the Soviet Union, and later by the experimental American-West German MBT-70 joint project. High-precision smoothbore tank gun barrels were perfected by the US Army's Weapons Laboratory at the Watervliet Arsenal based on a pair of patents by inventor Albert L. de Graffenried. More than 20,000 tank cannons were manufactured by

2968-463: The war – a vehicle specifically designed for anti-tank work, and armed more heavily than a tank on the same chassis could be. They generally fell into three overlapping categories: improvised modifications of old or captured tanks to render them viable again (such as converting the machine-gun-only Panzer I into the Panzerjäger I ), often with haphazard, poorly protected, limited-traverse weapon mounts;

3024-599: The war, the fighter aircraft of almost all the belligerents mounted cannon of some sort, the only exception being the United States which in most cases favoured the Browning AN/M2 "light-barrel" .50 calibre heavy machine gun . A fighter equipped with these intermediate weapons in sufficient numbers was adequately armed to fulfill most of the Americans' combat needs aloft, as they tended to confront enemy fighters and other small planes far more often than large bombers; and as, in

3080-662: Was also based on the Becker/Oerlikon design's principles. During the First World War , autocannons were mostly used in the trenches as anti-aircraft guns . The British used pom-pom guns as part of their air defences to counter the German Zeppelin airships that made regular bombing raids on London . However, they were of little value, as their shells neither ignited the hydrogen of the Zeppelins nor caused sufficient loss of gas (and hence lift) to bring them down. Attempts to use

3136-580: Was one of the most numerous in German service during the invasion of Poland and the campaign in France , used a 20 mm autocannon as its main armament. Although ineffective against tank armour even during the early years of the war, the cannon was effective against light-skinned vehicles as well as infantry and was also used by armoured cars . Larger examples, such as the 40 mm Vickers S , were mounted in ground attack aircraft to serve as an anti-tank weapon,

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