I don't know about this gun, but AF 30mm (A-10) and older Army 30mm (Apache) were different, one was percussion, the other electric primed. I think the AF round was longer too.

Article about Stryker upgrade:

http://www.scout.com/military/...nfantry-combat?s=172

Sounds like a nice upgrade.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
I don't know about this gun, but AF 30mm (A-10) and older Army 30mm (Apache) were different, one was percussion, the other electric primed.

This gun is the XM813, which is a variant of the M44 Bushmaster II. It's percussion-primed, like the Air Force's GAU-8.

While they'll primarily be using 30x173mm projectiles, they are designed to be cross-compatible with certain 40mm projectiles with just some parts swaps, though I don't know if the Army is planning on taking advantage of that capability.

Here's some more info:
https://www.orbitalatk.com/def...aster_Fact_Sheet.pdf

https://www.orbitalatk.com/def...0x173_Fact_Sheet.pdf

Some US Navy vessels are being armed with these cannons, including Zumwalt-class destroyers, San Antonio-class amphibious transports, and the Littoral Combat Ships. They're designed to be used against smaller and faster surface vessels. The US Air Force has also adopted the cannon as the GAU-23/A, and is using them on AC-130W/AC-130J gunships in place of the GAU-12.

The Apache used a VERY SHORT 30mm round compared to the Warthog...I have both. It would be a stretch to me that both systems would employ the identical round. IMHO.

The A10 fires a 30X173mm cartridge. It is, as noted, the round used in the Bushmaster Mk44 chain gun. Awesome round, WAY more effective than the 25 used by the Bradly and the current LAV. It's about time they up-gunned to the 30mm. You gain lethality but lose ammunition capacity. The cool thing also is that the 30mm can be upgraded to a 40mm with a few changes (barrel, bolt). The bad ass 50mm that ATK makes needs a different receiver though.

Here is a 30X173mm APFSDS round (dummy) with an M2 on the left and an M193 on the right.




ETA: I was lucky enough to be sent to DS/GS school for chain guns at ATK in Arizona in my previous life. The absolute BEST thing I saw was a chain gun in 7.62x51. It was a minature Mk44! It had a tiny feeder, a little bolt and chain, and it was awesome to shoot! Talking to the guys there it was funny because before ATK took over they belonged to someone else. Before that it was Hughes Aircraft. Anyway they worked on the 30mm on the Apache. Next to the shop was a .mil installation with Apache's. But they couldn't just send the guns they had for repair they had to go through the supply process. Well in the mid 2000's they had an understood 'agreement' where if they had a gun down hard they would take it over to the fence near ATK, lift it up, drop it over, ATK guys would catch it, repair it, and 'drop' it back over the fence. American ingenuity

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mbinky,

How does the 40mm work, just a barrel swap?

Yea on the 30mm Mk44 the reciever is the same. Basically a barrel and a bolt change. If I'm not mistaken on the receive it even says "30/40" or something similar denoting it is capable of both. The bigger issue is the feed system.

The 30 is a huge step up from the 25. At the range at ATC once we were firing PGU-15, a training round. The USMC literally got thousands of rounds from the Air Force because the lot had vastly differing velocities and they were afraid that a round would still be in the tube when another one was fired on the A10. Of course the USMC heard "free" and took every round

Anyway the target was a sheet of 1" steel, about 4x8 foot. A few rounds from the 30 knocked it over. ATC personnel went down to set it back up and it had holes in it. The day prior Brads had been shooting at it and the 25 left little dents; the PGU blew right through it. I got a chance to fire some service SABOT from the MK46 Navy turret and wow is that impressive.