50 caliber (12.7 mm) main armament, such as the P-51 and P-47, had to be close to enemy aircraft in order to hit and damage them. A lesson of World War II air combat was that German, Italian, and Japanese fighters could attack American aircraft from long range with their cannon main armament. The new Air Force made a request for a new aircraft gun. In 1947, the Air Force became a separate branch of the military. The Army wanted something better, combining an extremely high rate of fire with exceptional reliability. While captured German designs (principally the Mauser MG 213C) showed the potential of the single-barrel revolver cannon, the practical rate of fire of such a design was still limited by ammunition feed and barrel wear concerns. The higher speeds of jet-powered fighter aircraft meant that achieving an effective number of hits would be extremely difficult without a much higher volume of fire.
Development Īt the end of World War II, the United States Army Air Forces began to consider new directions for future military aircraft guns. After several mergers and acquisitions, it is currently produced by General Dynamics. The M61 was originally produced by General Electric. The M61 and its derivatives have been the principal cannon armament of United States military fixed-wing aircraft for over sixty years. The M61 Vulcan is a hydraulically, electrically, or pneumatically driven, six- barrel, air-cooled, electrically fired Gatling-style rotary cannon which fires 20 mm × 102 mm (0.787 in × 4.016 in) rounds at an extremely high rate (typically 6,000 rounds per minute). Hydraulically operated, electrically fired, rotary cannonģ,450 ft/s (1,050 m/s) with PGU-28/B round M61A2: 202 lb (92 kg) (light barrel), 228 lb (103 kg) (heavy barrel)Ħ-barrel (progressive RH parabolic twist, 9 grooves) Turkish military operation in Idlib Governorate
United States, some NATO members, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and others An unmounted M61A1 Vulcan with flash suppressor used in the SUU-16/A gun pod
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