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50-527: There are a total of three variants of the Samson family: For example, the Samson Remote Controlled Weapon System for 30 mm autocannon is designed to be mounted on lightly-armoured, high-mobility military vehicles and operated by a gunner or vehicle commander operating under-the-deck. It offers optional SPIKE guided missile , smoke grenade launcher, and embedded trainer. The RCWS 30

100-551: A heavy machine gun designed by John Browning and used by US forces during WWI . It became the basis of the much more common Browning M1919 machine gun, used by US forces throughout World War II, as well as the Browning M2 .50 caliber heavy machine gun, which is still in service, as well as many adaptions, such as the Japanese Ho-103 aircraft machine gun during World War II . Another legendarily reliable heavy machine gun

150-503: 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

200-598: 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

250-465: A few seconds by a trained crew. Problems with overheating can range from ammunition firing unintentionally ( cook-off ), or, what is much worse in combat, failure to fire, or even explosion of the weapon. Water-cooled weapons can achieve very high effective rates of fire (approaching their cyclic rate) but are very heavy and vulnerable to damage. A well-known example is the M1917 Browning machine gun ,

300-586: 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

350-465: 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

400-492: 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

450-524: 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

500-407: 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

550-436: A third hybrid class of weapons, common in handguns and rifles, known as a semi-automatic firearm , the rate of fire is primarily governed by the ability of the operator to actively pull the trigger and, for aimed fire, the operator's shot-to-shot recovery time. No other factors significantly contribute to the rate of fire. Generally, a semi-automatic firearm automatically chambers a round using blowback energy, but does not fire

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600-609: Is a product of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems . Israel has also installed a variant of the Samson RCWS in pillboxes along the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier . The Sentry Tech system, dubbed Roeh-Yoreh (Sees-Fires) in IDF service deployed on the Gaza fence, enables camera operators located in a rear-located intelligence base to engage border threats using the 12.7 mm heavy machine gun and

650-407: 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

700-714: Is the British Vickers machine gun , based on the Maxim machine gun design, which saw service both on the air and ground during World War I and World War II. Due to their disadvantages, water-cooled weapons have gradually been replaced by much lighter air-cooled weapons. For weapons mounted on aircraft , no cooling device is necessary due to the outside air cooling the weapon as the aircraft is moving. Consequently, aircraft-mounted machine guns, autocannon or Gatling-type guns can sustain fire far longer than ground-based counterparts, firing close to their cyclic rate of fire. However, due to

750-471: Is the duration of firing that a weapon could be expected to realistically withstand or output in a realistic environment. On paper, the M134 is capable of firing up to 6,000 rpm. Realistically, firing the weapon for a continuous sixty seconds would likely melt parts of the weapon. Sustained rate-of-fire depends on several factors, including reloading, aiming, barrel changes, cartridge fired, and user expertise. Knowing

800-452: Is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. This can be influenced by several factors, including operator training level, mechanical limitations, ammunition availability, and weapon condition. In modern weaponry, it is usually measured in rounds per minute (RPM or round/min) or rounds per second (RPS or round/s). There are three different measurements for the rate of fire: cyclic, sustained, and rapid. Cyclic

850-490: Is the maximum rate of fire given only mechanical function, not taking into account degradation of function due to heat, wear, or ammunition constraints. Sustained is the maximum efficient rate of fire given the time taken to load the weapon and keep it cool enough to operate. Finally, rapid is the maximum reasonable rate of fire in an emergency when the rate of fire need not be upheld for long periods. For manually operated weapons such as bolt-action rifles or artillery pieces,

900-458: 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

950-565: 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. Rounds per minute Rate of fire

1000-562: 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

1050-581: 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

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1100-524: The SPIKE guided missile . 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 a longer effective range and greater terminal performance than machine guns, due to

1150-406: The 20th century, this increased firepower was due almost entirely to the higher rate of fire of modern weapons. An example of increase in rate of fire is the Maxim machine gun that was developed in 1884 and used until World War I ended in 1918. Its performance was improved during that time mainly by advances in the field of cooling . There are diverse measurements of rate of fire. The speed of

1200-509: 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

1250-527: The bullet also pushes the bolt rearward against the recoil spring . After the bolt is stopped by either the spring or the rear of the receiver, it is pushed forward to either fire again or catch on the sear . Typical cyclic rates of fire are 600–1100 rpm for assault rifles , 400–1400 rpm for submachine guns and machine pistols , and 600–1,500 rpm for machine guns . M134 Miniguns mounted on attack helicopters and other combat vehicles can achieve rates of fire of over 100 rounds per second (6,000 rpm). This

1300-505: The cramped confines of a tank or self-propelled gun . This is because the crew operating in the open can move more freely and can stack ammunition where it is most convenient. Inside a vehicle, ammunition storage may not be optimized for fast handling due to other design constraints, and crew movement may be constricted. Artillery rates of fire were increased in the late 19th century by innovations including breech-loading and quick-firing guns . For automatic weapons such as machine guns ,

1350-553: 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

1400-405: The effective rate of fire for a weapon can be useful for determining ammunition reserve and resupply requirements. Machine guns are typically fired in short bursts to preserve ammunition and barrel life, reserving long strings of fire for emergencies. Sustained rate-of-fire also applies to box magazine fed assault rifles and semi-automatic rifles , although these weapons rarely expend ammunition at

1450-412: 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;

1500-464: 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

1550-444: The fire will vary depending on the type of automatic weapon. This measures how quickly an automatic or semi-automatic firearm can fire a single cartridge. At the end of a cycle, the weapon should be ready to fire or begin firing another round. In an open bolt simple blowback weapon, this starts with pulling the trigger to release the bolt. The bolt pushes a cartridge into the barrel from a magazine and fires it. The energy propelling

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1600-576: 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

1650-483: 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

1700-427: 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

1750-466: 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

1800-561: The new round until the trigger is released to a reset point and actively pulled again. A semi-automatic's rate of fire is significantly different from and should not be confused with a full-automatic 's rate of fire. Many full-automatic small arms have a selective fire feature that 'downgrades' them to semi-automatic mode by changing a switch. Over time, weapons have attained higher rates of fire. A small infantry unit armed with modern rifles and machine guns can generate more firepower than much larger units equipped with older weapons. Over

1850-569: 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,

1900-480: The problem of heat. Even a manually operated rifle generates heat as rounds are fired. A machine gun builds up heat so rapidly that steps must be taken to prevent overheating . Solutions include making barrels heavier so that they heat up more slowly, making barrels rapidly replaceable by the crews, or using water jackets around the barrel to cool the weapon. A modern machine gun team will carry at least one spare barrel for their weapon, which can be swapped out within

1950-591: The purpose of the design, do carry more, such as the GAU-8 Avenger mounted on the A-10 Thunderbolt, which carries 1,150 rounds of ammunition sufficient for 17 seconds of firing). Another factor influencing rate of fire is the supply of ammunition. At 50 rps (3,000 rpm), a five-second burst from an M134 Minigun would use approximately 6.3 kilograms (14 lb) of 7.62 mm ammunition; this alone would make it an impractical weapon for infantry who have to carry

2000-415: The rate of fire is governed primarily by the training of the operator or crew, within some mechanical limitations. Rate of fire may also be affected by ergonomic factors. For rifles, ease-of-use features such as the design of the bolt or magazine release can affect the rate of fire. For artillery pieces, a gun on a towed mount can usually achieve a higher rate of fire than the same weapon mounted within

2050-421: The rate of fire is primarily a mechanical property. A high cyclic firing rate is advantageous for use against targets that are exposed to a machine gun for a limited time span, like aircraft or targets that minimize their exposure time by quickly moving from cover to cover. For targets that can be fired on by a machine gun for longer periods than just a few seconds the cyclic firing rate becomes less important. For

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2100-645: The same rate as light machine guns . Rapid or sustained rate of fire may be considered a weapon's absolute maximum firing rate. The term sustained refers to firing a fully-automatic weapon continuously, while rapid is limited to semi-automatic or manually operated firearms. Rapid and sustained fire are usually reserved for close-range defense against ambushes or human wave attacks . Such scenarios trade control, ammunition, and even aiming for sheer volume of fire. These fire rates push weapons and soldiers to their physical limits and cannot be sustained for long periods. The major limitation in higher rates of fire arises due to

2150-507: 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

2200-451: 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

2250-616: 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

2300-410: 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 a single barrel . When multiple rotating barrels are involved, such a weapon is referred to as

2350-655: 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

2400-615: The weight of the ammunition, sustained fire is constrained by ammunition payload, as many aircraft cannons only carry enough ammunition for a few seconds' worth of firing; for example, the F-16 Falcon and its variants carry 511 rounds of 20mm ammunition, and the F-22 Raptor carries a similar amount at 480 rounds, which equates to roughly five seconds of firing at the M61 Vulcan's 6000 rpm (100 rounds per second) cyclic rate. (Some aircraft, due to

2450-719: 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

2500-580: 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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