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The Mk.10 is an 8-barreled rotary cannon, used in the F14A1 Camaro and F20A3 Stalker, and other aircraft. It is my own design, but "borrows" heavily from the Soviet-built Shipunov Gsh-6-23.
The Mk.10 is Gas-Operated; meaning, gasses expelled from the brass casings (when cannon is fired) are vented ithrough the gas tube and into the motor, driving the weapon. This system is common in "Linear" (i.e., single-barreled) Autocannons, but is exeedingly rare in "Rotary" cannons.
Why make it Gas-Operated? Well, "Externally-Motivated"(i.e.; electric motor-driven, Which I will refer to as "EMv", from now on) rotary cannons, have mumerous HUGE disadvantages. First, the are very bulky; the Vulcan has tons of motors, pulleys, chains, and tons of other gear that make the complete unit about the same size and weight as a Honda Civic. Second, all those components create a lage power drain, which can mess with an aircraft's radar, instruments, FCS, etc. --- or, in some cicumstances it could SHORT THEM OUT. Third, EMv guns can jam easily --- they require several "dummy" rounds to be loaded before the live ones, to prevent misfeeds. Fourth, they MUST fire within certain range of RPMs, or they will jam. Fifth, they have long "spin-up" and "spin-down" times, which are a second or two each --- an eternity in a dogfight, which is where this weapon is used.
The Mk.10, however, is slim and simple (exept for the ammo tank, feeder chute, and ballast, the daigram shows everything), consumes nearly no power, has a simpler feeding system that has less components (and thus, less things that can breakdown ans cause jamming), can fire at ant RPMs that don't exeed the stress tolerances of it's materials, and has no spin-up or spin-down (due to the Locking mechanism) times.
The fastest rate of fire in an EMv cannon is 6000 RPM (100 rounds-per-second), in the M61A1 Vulcan, and it would be difficult to do any better in a gun of that type. The Gas-Operated Gsh-6-23 (which my gun was inspired by) produces 10000 RPM (140 rounds-per-second) --- the highest ever achieved in any production weapon. This would allow mere 20mm rounds to do enough damage to rival that of much higher bore guns (e.g., 30mm), in much less time, making the Mk.10 more destructive in air-to-air combat than any previous gun.
Using 8 barrels means 30% more rounds fired per rotation, and thus a MUCH slower rate of rotation compared to the Gsh-6-23 --- this results in less barrel wear, less rapid rotation to achieve a high RPM, and much more gradual overheating than rotary cannons with less barrels.
The Mk.10 represents nothing less than the aviation cannon of the future.
The Mk.10 is Gas-Operated; meaning, gasses expelled from the brass casings (when cannon is fired) are vented ithrough the gas tube and into the motor, driving the weapon. This system is common in "Linear" (i.e., single-barreled) Autocannons, but is exeedingly rare in "Rotary" cannons.
Why make it Gas-Operated? Well, "Externally-Motivated"(i.e.; electric motor-driven, Which I will refer to as "EMv", from now on) rotary cannons, have mumerous HUGE disadvantages. First, the are very bulky; the Vulcan has tons of motors, pulleys, chains, and tons of other gear that make the complete unit about the same size and weight as a Honda Civic. Second, all those components create a lage power drain, which can mess with an aircraft's radar, instruments, FCS, etc. --- or, in some cicumstances it could SHORT THEM OUT. Third, EMv guns can jam easily --- they require several "dummy" rounds to be loaded before the live ones, to prevent misfeeds. Fourth, they MUST fire within certain range of RPMs, or they will jam. Fifth, they have long "spin-up" and "spin-down" times, which are a second or two each --- an eternity in a dogfight, which is where this weapon is used.
The Mk.10, however, is slim and simple (exept for the ammo tank, feeder chute, and ballast, the daigram shows everything), consumes nearly no power, has a simpler feeding system that has less components (and thus, less things that can breakdown ans cause jamming), can fire at ant RPMs that don't exeed the stress tolerances of it's materials, and has no spin-up or spin-down (due to the Locking mechanism) times.
The fastest rate of fire in an EMv cannon is 6000 RPM (100 rounds-per-second), in the M61A1 Vulcan, and it would be difficult to do any better in a gun of that type. The Gas-Operated Gsh-6-23 (which my gun was inspired by) produces 10000 RPM (140 rounds-per-second) --- the highest ever achieved in any production weapon. This would allow mere 20mm rounds to do enough damage to rival that of much higher bore guns (e.g., 30mm), in much less time, making the Mk.10 more destructive in air-to-air combat than any previous gun.
Using 8 barrels means 30% more rounds fired per rotation, and thus a MUCH slower rate of rotation compared to the Gsh-6-23 --- this results in less barrel wear, less rapid rotation to achieve a high RPM, and much more gradual overheating than rotary cannons with less barrels.
The Mk.10 represents nothing less than the aviation cannon of the future.
Category Designs / Miscellaneous
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 960 x 420px
File Size 68.8 kB
not on the F14A1 Camaro and F20A-series Stalker --- the Mk.10 is water-cooled, and feeds from a 1400-round ammo tank on said aircraft.
That's 10 seconds of ammunition, 10000rpm.
That's 10 seconds of ammunition, 10000rpm.
Consider, though, that most of the time, a pilot will only keep the trigger down for less than a second, to conserve ammo. Also, a small cannon like this isn't necessarily going to be used for tank-busting (it could do it, if need be, but it seems more like a dogfighter's cannon to me). Light targets like aircraft and lightly-armored ground vehicles (not to mention people) don't take as much damage before they stop functioning. Less damage necessary means fewer bullets fired, which means your ammo and barrels are going to last longer.
Gas-operated Gatling cannon? I've never heard of the concept before, so thank you for showing me something new. :)
Just one question: What do you mean by locking mechanism? If you tried to lock the barrels at max RPM, you'd probably destroy any locking mechanism you put on there. So, maybe you meant a braking mechanism?
Otherwise it seems very well-reasoned (and, since it's based on a real weapon, it's entirely feasible). I'd probably put something like this on some of the fighters in one of the stories I'm writing. 140 RPS is a far cry from some of the clunky tech I'm working with. :P
By the way, if you ever design a cannon-like weapons system that would work on a small (fighter-sized) spacecraft, drop me a line, would ya? I'm stuck. :P
Just one question: What do you mean by locking mechanism? If you tried to lock the barrels at max RPM, you'd probably destroy any locking mechanism you put on there. So, maybe you meant a braking mechanism?
Otherwise it seems very well-reasoned (and, since it's based on a real weapon, it's entirely feasible). I'd probably put something like this on some of the fighters in one of the stories I'm writing. 140 RPS is a far cry from some of the clunky tech I'm working with. :P
By the way, if you ever design a cannon-like weapons system that would work on a small (fighter-sized) spacecraft, drop me a line, would ya? I'm stuck. :P
The Shipunov 23mm Gsh-6-23 (Su-24 Fencer, Mig-31 Foxhound, and Mig-39 Flatpack) and 30mm Gsh-6-30 (Mig-27 Flogger and early Su-25 Frogfoot) are both gas-operated rotary cannons. They're both quite common, and the AK-630 CIWS used on Eastern-Block warships use one (sometimes two) Gsh-6-30's.
As for the locking (you may be right calling it 'braking') mechanism, do you notice the zig-zagging seam behind the feeder chute? That is the seam between two "bear-trap" like disks that open when the solenoid fires the gun, allowing it to rotate (at all). When the solenoid ceases to act on the gun, these disks slam shut, stopping the Mk.10's rotation completely. These disks MUST operate this way, otherwise the Mk.10 would "Slam-Fire" --- i.e., firing uncontrollably until it runs out of ammo. Cool, huh? :)
As for autocannons on spacecraft, I'll let you know.
As for the locking (you may be right calling it 'braking') mechanism, do you notice the zig-zagging seam behind the feeder chute? That is the seam between two "bear-trap" like disks that open when the solenoid fires the gun, allowing it to rotate (at all). When the solenoid ceases to act on the gun, these disks slam shut, stopping the Mk.10's rotation completely. These disks MUST operate this way, otherwise the Mk.10 would "Slam-Fire" --- i.e., firing uncontrollably until it runs out of ammo. Cool, huh? :)
As for autocannons on spacecraft, I'll let you know.
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