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59-468: The M134 Minigun is a six-barrel rotary machine gun. M134 or M-134 may also refer to: M134 Minigun "Minigun" refers to a specific model of weapon that General Electric originally produced, but the term "minigun" has popularly come to refer to any externally powered rotary gun of rifle caliber. The term is sometimes used loosely to refer to guns of similar rates of fire and configuration, regardless of power source and caliber. The Minigun

118-683: A change in designation. The M134D is an improved version of the M134 designed and manufactured by Dillon Aero , while Garwood Industries manufactures the M134G variant. 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 Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne helicopter. Another variant

177-515: A conformally mounted gun pod (B-2/R-2). The Me 410 Hornisse were armed with the same BK 50mm autocannon as the Ju 88P-4, but were only used as bomber destroyers. None of the German twin-engine heavy fighters types were produced or converted in large numbers. In the more modern, post-World War II fixed-wing aircraft category, a gunship is an aircraft having laterally -mounted heavy armaments (i.e. firing to

236-471: A fixed armament of four 20 mm Hispano Mk.II cannon and four .303 (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns , together with up to 4,000 pounds of bombs in the bomb bay and on racks housed in streamlined fairings under each wing, or up to eight "60lb" RP-3 rockets . De Havilland also produced seventeen Mosquito FB Mk XVIIIs armed with a 57 mm QF 6-pdr anti-tank gun with autoloader, which were used against German ships and U-boats. The Germans also made

295-679: A forward firing role for a variety of helicopters, some of the most prominent examples being the M21 armament subsystem for the UH-1 and the M27 for the OH-6 . It also formed the primary turret-mounted armament for a number of members of the Bell 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 fulfill today. Gunship A gunship

354-506: A greater capacity for a high firing rate, since the serial process of firing, extraction, and 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

413-475: A period. During World War I , several German companies were working on externally powered guns for use in aircraft. One of these designs was the Fokker-Leimberger , an externally powered 12-barrel rotary gun using the 7.92×57mm Mauser round; it was claimed to be capable of firing over 7,000 rpm, but suffered from frequent cartridge-case ruptures due to its "nutcracker" rotary split-breech design, which

472-545: 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, the difficulties had been worked out and the units were again being fitted to AC-47s, AC-119s, and AC-130s , with

531-469: A refit and the two M61 Vulcans were removed and replaced with one General Dynamics 25 mm (0.984 in) GAU-12/U Equalizer 5-barrel rotary cannon (while still retaining the H suffix). The improved MXU-470/As were even being proposed for lighter aircraft such as the Cessna O-2 Skymaster used by Forward Air Controllers but proved too heavy and cumbersome. A fit of two MXU-470/As was also tested on

590-551: A relatively new invention at the time. Even after Gatling slowed the mechanism, the new electrically 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 design received U.S. Patent #502,185 on July 25, 1893. Despite his improvements, the Gatling gun fell into disuse after cheaper, lighter-weight, recoil and gas operated machine guns were invented; Gatling himself went bankrupt for

649-443: 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. One of the first applications of the weapon was in aircraft armament pods. These gun pods were used by a wide variety of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft mainly during

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708-483: A sizable number of heavy fighter types ( Zerstörer —"destroyer") armed with heavy guns ( Bordkanone ). Dedicated "tankbuster" aircraft such as the Ju 87Gs ( Kanonenvogel ) were armed with two BK 37mm autocannon in underwing gun pods. The Ju 88P gunships were armed with 37mm, 50mm and 75mm guns, and were used as tankbusters and as bomber destroyers. The Hs 129 could carry a 30 mm (1.181 in) MK 101 cannon or MK 103 cannon in

767-508: A specific ammunition load that replaced every fifth 'ball' round with a tracer round to enable better accuracy by the gunners, and also earning these airborne gunships the nickname 'Puff the Magic Dragon' by the Viet Cong due to their apparent ability of spitting fire and making everything they hit disappear or die. The AC-47 had three side mounted MXU-470/As (four were mounted on its replacement,

826-496: A variable (i.e. selectable) rate of fire, specified to fire at rates of up to 6,000 rpm with most applications set at rates between 3,000 and 4,000 rounds per minute. The Minigun was mounted on Hughes OH-6 Cayuse and Bell OH-58 Kiowa side pods; in the turret and on pylon pods of Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters; and on door, pylon and pod mounts on Bell UH-1 Iroquois transport helicopters. Several larger aircraft were outfitted with miniguns specifically for close air support :

885-506: A variety of combat maneuvers to approach a target. In their case, the term gunship is synonymous with heavily armed helicopter . Specifically, dedicated attack helicopters such as the Bell AH-1 Cobra also fit this meaning. In any case, the gunship armaments include machine guns, rockets, and missiles . The Soviet Mil Mi-24 (NATO code name: Hind) is a large, heavily armed and armored helicopter gunship and troop transport . It

944-487: Is a military aircraft armed with heavy aircraft guns , primarily intended for attacking ground targets either as airstrike or as close air support . In modern usage the term "gunship" refers to fixed-wing aircraft having laterally -mounted heavy armaments (i.e. firing to the side) to attack ground or sea targets. These gunships are configured to circle the target instead of performing strafing runs. Such aircraft have their armament on one side harmonized to fire at

1003-543: Is being produced with this firing rate as well as 4,000 rpm and the previous standard 3,000 rpm rate. Garwood Industries made several other modifications to the 1960s Minigun design in order to meet modern-day military and ISO standards. This includes modifications to the drive motor, feeder and barrel clutch assembly. From 2015 to 2017 Garwood Industries CEO Tracy Garwood collaborated with firearms dealer Michael Fox and weapons smuggler Tyler Carlson to supply miniguns to Mexican drug cartels. Garwood submitted false paperwork to

1062-458: Is different to that of conventional rotary gun designs. None of these German guns went into production during the war, although a competing Siemens prototype (possibly using a different action), which was tried on the Western Front , scored a victory in aerial combat. The British also experimented with this type of split-breech during the 1950s, but they were also unsuccessful. In the 1960s,

1121-480: Is used by several branches of the U.S. military. Versions are designated M134 and XM196 by the United States Army , and GAU-2/A and GAU-17/A by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy . The ancestor to the modern minigun was a hand cranked mechanical device invented in the 1860s by Richard Jordan Gatling . He later replaced the hand-cranked mechanism of a rifle-caliber Gatling gun with an electric motor ,

1180-589: Is used 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 United States Army , while the same weapon was designated GAU-2/A (on a fixed mount) and GAU-17/A (flexible mount) by the United States Air Force (USAF) and United States Navy (USN). The USAF minigun variant has three versions, while the US Army weapon appears to have incorporated several improvements without

1239-498: The ATF claiming that some M134G rotor housings had been destroyed when they were actually sold to the gun-running ring. In 2017 federal agents raided Fox's home and recovered two of the rotor housings that Garwood had reported destroyed. A number of the rotor housings were shipped to Mexico and a completed M134G using a reportedly destroyed rotor housing was recovered from a cartel by Mexican law enforcement. Garwood claimed he did not know that

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1298-929: The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly with an internal gun and with pods on wing hardpoints ; and the Douglas A-1 Skyraider , also with pods on wing hardpoints. Other famous gunship airplanes are the Douglas AC-47 Spooky , the Fairchild AC-119 , and the Lockheed AC-130 . The U.S. government had procured some 10,000 Miniguns during the Vietnam War . Around 1990, Dillon Aero acquired a large number of Miniguns and spares from "a foreign user". The guns kept failing to shoot continuously, revealing that they were actually worn-out weapons. The company decided to fix

1357-408: The Douglas AC-47 Spooky and Fairchild 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

1416-868: The Fairchild AC-119 , and the AC-130 Spectre/Spooky, were vulnerable, and meant to operate only after achieving air superiority . Smaller gunship designs such as the Fairchild AU-23 Peacemaker and the Helio AU-24 Stallion were also designed by the United States during the Vietnam War. These aircraft were meant to be cheap and easy to fly and maintain, and were to be given to friendly governments in Southeast Asia to assist with counter-insurgency operations, eventually seeing service with

1475-680: The Fairchild AU-23A Peacemaker , though the Royal Thai Air Force later elected to use another configuration with the M197 20 mm cannon. In September 2013, Dillon Aero released the DGP2300 gun pod for the M134D-H. It contains 3,000 rounds, enough ammunition to fire the minigun for a full minute. The system is entirely self-contained, so it can be mounted on any aircraft that can handle

1534-687: The Khmer National Air Force , Royal Thai Air Force , and Republic of Vietnam Air Force as well as limited use by the United States Air Force. Renewed interest in the concept of gunships has resulted in the development of a gunship variant of the Alenia C-27J Spartan . Although the United States Air Force decided not to procure the AC-27J, other nations including Italy have chosen the aircraft for introduction. Additionally, in 2013

1593-581: The United States during the Vietnam War. Armed with four 7.62 mm GAU-2/A Miniguns (and two 20 mm (0.787 in) M61 Vulcan six-barrel rotary cannons in the AC-119K version), they replaced the Douglas AC-47 Spooky and operated alongside the early versions of the AC-130 Spectre gunship. It was the later and larger Lockheed AC-130 Gunship II that became the modern, post–World War II origin of

1652-617: The United States Armed Forces began exploring modern variants of the electrically powered, rotating barrel Gatling-style weapons for use in the Vietnam War . American forces in the Vietnam War, which used helicopters as one of the primary means of transporting soldiers and equipment through the dense jungle, found that their helicopters were vulnerable to small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attacks when they slowed to land. Although helicopters had mounted single-barrel machine guns, using them to repel attackers hidden in

1711-541: The Vietnam War , the popular Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport was successfully modified into a gunship by the United States Air Force with three side-firing Miniguns for circling attacks. At the time the aircraft was known as a "Dragonship", "Puff, the Magic Dragon" or "Spooky" (officially designated FC-47, later corrected to AC-47). Its three 7.62 mm miniguns could selectively fire either 50 or 100 rounds per second. Cruising in an overhead left-hand orbit at 120 knots air speed at an altitude of 3,000 feet (910 m),

1770-478: The .50 caliber machine guns were replaced by a MG 151 20mm cannon in a single mounting. These helicopters were known in Portuguese service as " helicanhões " (heli-cannons) and were used in the escort of unarmed transport helicopters in air assault operations and in the fire support to the troops in the ground. The South African and Rhodesian air forces later used armed Alouette III in similar configurations as

1829-571: The 160th SOAR as its standardized weapon system. The gun then went through the Army's formal procurement system approval process, and in 2003 the Dillon Aero minigun was certified and designated M134D . Once the Dillon Aero system was approved for general military service, Dillon Aero GAU-17s entered Marine Corps service and were well received in replacing the GE GAU-17s serving on Marine UH-1s. The core of

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1888-605: The AC-119) and when all firing at once created a devastating image in the eyes of the enemy. The first AC-130A Gunship IIs did away with the MXU-470/A mounts and instead used GAU-2/As, and not only had four 7.62mm GAU-2/A minigun mounts, but added four 20mm M61 Vulcan 6-barrel rotary cannons; this configuration was upgraded two years later in 1969 by removing two each of the GAU-2/As and M61s and adding two 40mm (1.58 in) L/60 Bofors cannons in

1947-847: The AC-27J Stinger II and the MC-27J produced by Alenia Aeronautica in Italy. Early helicopter gunships also operated in the side-firing configuration, with an early example being the Aérospatiale Alouette III . During the Overseas wars in Africa in the 1960s, the Portuguese Air Force experimented with the installation of M2 Browning .50 caliber machine guns in a side-firing twin-mounting configuration in some of its Alouette III helicopters. Later,

2006-730: The Gulf ahead of the 2003 Iraq War - 59 systems were installed in 30 days. The GAU-17/A is designated Mk 44 in the machine gun series and is generally known as the Mk 44 when installed on British warships. The weapon is part of both the A/A49E-11 armament system on the UH-1N; and of the A/A49E-13 armament subsystem on the USAF Sikorsky HH-60H Pave Hawk helicopter. The weapons on these systems feature

2065-514: The M134D was a steel housing and rotor. To focus on weight reduction, a titanium housing and rotor were introduced, creating the M134D-T which had reduced weight from 62 lb (28 kg) to 41 lb (19 kg). The gun housing had a 500,000-round lifespan before it wore out, which was far higher than a conventional machine gun's 40,000-round lifespan but lower than that of other rotary guns. A hybrid of

2124-557: The Navy began mounting Dillon miniguns on specialized small boats. In 2005, the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division procured guns to mount on Humvees . In Iraq, US Army Special Forces units on the ground were frequently engaged by opposition forces, so they mounted M134D miniguns on their vehicles for additional firepower. After several engagements the attackers seemed to avoid vehicles with miniguns. Later,

2183-490: The Pacific 405 B-25Gs were armed with a 75 mm (2.95 in) M4 cannon and a thousand B-25Hs followed. The H models, delivered from August 1943, moved the dorsal turret forward to just behind the cockpit and were armed with the lighter 75mm T13E1 cannon. The B-25J variant removed the 75mm gun but carried a total of eighteen 0.50 cal (12.7 mm) AN/ M2 Browning machine guns , more than any other contemporary American aircraft: eight in

2242-725: The Portuguese, respectively in the South African Border and Rhodesian Bush wars. During the Algerian War , the French operated Sikorsky H-34 "Pirate" armed with a German 20mm MG151 cannon and two .50 machine guns. During the early days of the Vietnam War, USMC H-34s were among the first helicopter gunships in theater, fitted with the Temporary Kit-1 (TK-1) , comprising two M60C machine guns and two 19-shot 2.75 inch rocket pods . The operations were met with mixed enthusiasm, and

2301-535: The Special Forces units began concealing their weapons so opposition troops would not know they were facing the weapon; the regular Army units did the opposite, creating minigun mock-ups out of painted PVC pipes tied together to resemble barrels to intimidate enemies. Garwood Industries created the M134G version with several modifications to the original GE system. The optimum rate of fire was determined by Garwood to be around 3,200 rounds per minute (rpm). The M134G

2360-798: The US Air Force Special Operations Command reportedly tested a gunship version of the C-145A Skytruck armed with a GAU-18 twin-mount .50-calibre machine gun system. Later Air Forces in the middle east have begun to experiment with smaller gunships than the AC-130 with the Jordan Air Force converting 2 AC-235 and a single AC-295 into Gunships. These are armed with ATK’s side-mounted M230 30mm chain guns and various munitions (2.75-inch rockets, hellfire missiles and bombs) mounted on to wing pylons. Other smaller modern gunships include

2419-580: 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 U.S. Army, was a relatively simple unit, completely self-contained, with a 1,500-round magazine directly feeding delinked ammunition 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 variants of this pod exist. Initially on fixed-wing gunships such as

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2478-467: The apex of an imaginary cone formed by the aircraft and the ground when performing a pylon turn ( banking turn ). The term "gunship" originated in the mid-19th century as a synonym for gunboat and also referred to the heavily armed ironclad steamships used during the American Civil War . The term helicopter gunship is commonly used to describe armed helicopters . During 1942 and 1943,

2537-646: The aptly named AC-130A 'Surprise Package'. This configuration lasted two more years until, in late 1971, the AC-130E Pave Aegis arrived, which did away with the miniguns altogether and one of the 40mm Bofors and instead went to the configuration of two 20mm M61 Vulcan, one 40mm L/60 Bofors and one 105 mm (4.13 in) M102 howitzer , a configuration that lasted until the early 2000s when the AC-130Hs (the AC-130Es had had an avionics upgrade and redesignated to H models) underwent

2596-652: The armed H-34s, known as "Stingers", were quickly phased out. The TK-1 kit would form the basis of the TK-2 kit used later on the UH-1E helicopters of the USMC. The U.S. Army also experimented with H-34 gunships armed with M2 .50 caliber machine-guns and 2.75-inch rockets. In September 1971, a CH-34 was armed with two M2 .50 caliber machine guns, four M1919 .30 caliber machine guns, forty 2.75-inch rockets, two 5-inch high velocity aerial rockets (HVAR), plus two additional .30 caliber machine guns in

2655-487: The delinker's performance and began ordering them by 1997. This prompted Dillon to improve other design aspects including the bolt, housing and barrel. Between 1997 and 2001, Dillon Aero was producing 25–30 products a year. In 2001, it was working on a new bolt design that increased performance and service life. By 2002, virtually every component of the minigun had been improved, so Dillon began producing complete weapons with improved components. The guns were purchased quickly by

2714-403: The dense jungle foliage often led to overheated barrels or cartridge jams. To develop a more reliable weapon with a higher rate of fire, General Electric designers scaled down the rotary-barrel 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon for 7.62×51mm NATO ammunition. The resulting weapon, designated M134 and known as the "Minigun", could fire up to 6,000 rounds per minute without overheating. The gun has

2773-405: The gas pressure or recoil energy of fired cartridges. A gas-operated variant, designated XM133 , was also developed. While the weapon can feed from linked ammunition, it requires a delinking feeder to strip the links as the rounds are fed into the chambers. The original feeder unit was designated MAU-56/A, but has since been replaced by an improved MAU-201/A unit. The General Electric minigun

2832-445: The gunship could put a bullet or glowing red tracer (every fifth round) into every square yard of a football field–sized target in potentially less than 10 seconds. And, as long as its 45-flare and 24,000-round basic load of ammunition held out, it could do this intermittently while loitering over the target for hours. The lesser known Fairchild AC-119G Shadow and AC-119K Stingers were twin-engine piston-powered gunships developed by

2891-440: The intended buyers were Mexican cartels although he was aware that they were to be used for illegal activity. 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

2950-799: The lack of a usable escort fighter for the United States Army Air Forces in the European Theatre of Operations led to experiments in dramatically increasing the armament of a standard Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress , and later a single Consolidated B-24D Liberator , to each have 14 to 16 Browning AN/M2 .50 cal machine guns as the Boeing YB-40 Flying Fortress and Consolidated XB-41 Liberator respectively. These were to accompany regular heavy bomber formations over occupied Europe on strategic bombing raids for long-range escort duties as "flying destroyer gunships". The YB-40

3009-485: The left side aft windows and one .50 caliber machine gun in the right side cargo door. The result was the world's most heavily armed helicopter at the time. Also, during the Vietnam War, the ubiquitous Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopters were modified into gunships by mounting the U.S. Helicopter Armament Subsystems—these were forward-firing weapons, such as machine guns , rockets , and autocannons , that began to appear in 1962–1963. Rotary-wing aircraft (helicopters) can use

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3068-490: The nose, four in under-cockpit conformal flank-mount gun pod packages, two in the dorsal turret, one each in the pair of waist positions, and a pair in the tail, giving a maximum of fourteen guns firing forward in strafing runs. Later the B-25J was armed with eight 5 in. (130 mm) high velocity aircraft rockets (HVARs). The British also made large numbers of twin-engined fighter bombers. The de Havilland Mosquito FB.VI had

3127-490: The problems encountered, rather than simply putting the guns into storage. Fixing failure problems ended up improving the Minigun's overall design. Word of Dillon's efforts to improve the Minigun reached the 160th SOAR , and the company was invited to Fort Campbell, Kentucky , to demonstrate its products. A delinker, used to separate cartridges from ammunition belts and feed them into the gun housing, and other parts were tested on Campbell's ranges. The 160th SOAR were impressed by

3186-405: The side) to attack ground or sea targets. These gunships were configured to circle the target instead of performing strafing runs. Such aircraft have their armament on one side harmonized to fire at the apex of an imaginary cone formed by the aircraft and the ground when performing a pylon turn ( banking turn ). The Douglas AC-47 Spooky was the first notable modern gunship. In 1964, during

3245-466: The term gunship in military aviation. These heavily armed aircraft used a variety of weapon systems, including 7.62 mm GAU-2/A Miniguns, 20 mm (0.787 in) M61 Vulcan six-barrel rotary cannons , 25 mm (0.984 in) GAU-12/U Equalizer five-barreled rotary cannons, 30 mm Mk44 Bushmaster II chain guns , 40 mm (1.58 in) L/60 Bofors autocannons , and 105 mm (4.13 in) M102 howitzers . The Douglas AC-47 Spooky ,

3304-561: The two weapons resulted in the M134D-H , which had a steel housing and titanium rotor. It was cheaper with the steel component and only 1 lb (0.45 kg) heavier than the M134D-T, and restored its lifespan to 1.5 million rounds. The M134D-H is currently in use on various 160th Regiment platforms. Dillon also created specialized mounts and ammunition-handling systems. Initially, mounts were made only for aviation systems. Then from 2003 to 2005,

3363-410: The weight, rotational torque, and recoil force (190 lbf (850 N)) of the gun. The pod has its own battery which can be wired into the aircraft's electrical system to maintain a charge. 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

3422-825: Was developed by the USAF specifically for flexible installations, beginning primarily with the Bell UH-1N Twin Huey helicopter, as the GAU-17/A. Produced by General Dynamics , this version has a slotted flash hider. The primary end users of the GAU-17/A have been the USN and the United States Marine Corps (USMC), which mount the gun as defensive armament on a number of helicopters and surface ships. GAU-17/As from helicopters were rushed into service for ships on pintle mountings taken from Mk16 20 mm guns for anti-swarm protection in

3481-415: Was sometimes described as a gunship, and a small 25-aircraft batch of the B-17-derived gunships were built, with a dozen of these deployed to Europe; the XB-41 had problems with stability and did not progress. During World War II , the urgent need for hard-hitting attack aircraft led to the development of the heavily armed gunship versions of the North American B-25 Mitchell . For use against shipping in

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