Re: Nuclear Weapons Material

["David K. Merriman" <merriman@metronet.com>]

>> I have seen the exact same chain-gun mounted on F-16's and A-10's here at
>> Bergstron AFB in Austin at at least two different air shows. I am going on
>> this alone. I do not know if this was ever an active use of the gun.
>> 
>
>	Are we thinking of the same A-10? Tank-killer? The one that
>houses a multi-barrel gun the size of a small car, and fires shells
>which could pass for milk bottles in a dark room? I've seen an F-16, and
>i don't think it could carry the chain gun off an A-10 - or have i
>missed the point somewhere?
>

I worked a few months in the GE plant where they make these wonderful little 
toys ("GE - We Bring Good Things To Life" - hah!).  The A-10 does indeed use 
the 30mm cannon, while the fighter aircraft use 20mm.
Externally, the guns look *very* similar - you've got to get close enough to 
count the barrels (which is too damn close, if it _really_ matters :-) to be 
sure: 20mm uses 6 barrels, 30mm uses 4 (at least, at the time I was there - 
mid-80's). Either shoots 4,000 rounds/minute. Then you've got everyone's 
favorite, the 40mm, firing 3,000 rounds/minute through 3 barrels.  If you had 
to compare a 40mm and a milk bottle in a dark room, the milk bottle is 
probably the small one :-)

Not something I'd want to be on the receiving end of, in any case. Of course, 
we all realize that the size of the ammo refers to the projectile, not the 
casing, which is typically about half again the projectile diameter, for 
'cased' ammo.

I got to watch them light off all their little toys, with different types of 
rounds in them, while there - even after watching Navy guns fire, I was 
impressed.

Dave (ex swab-jockey) Merriman
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