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U.S. Helicopter Armament Subsystems
The United States military has developed a number of Helicopter Armament Subsystems since the early 1960s. These systems are used for offensive and defensive purposes and make use of a wide variety of weapon types including, but not limited to machine guns, grenade launchers, autocannon, and rockets. Various systems are still in use, though many have become obsolete. Introduction The helicopter has added much to the modern battlefield, fomenting new strategies and tactics to use and deny its capabilities. In the air, against land-based threats, and at sea, helicopters can be used to attack, defend, and transport to react swiftly to the fluid tactical conditions of modern combat. The United States Army was one of the first to experiment with helicopters, yet slow to fully explore the possibilities of armed helicopter gunships. An armed helicopter was proposed and rejected in the early 1940s. The Korean War experience prompted more experiments to explore the idea of air mobile t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
M60 Machine Gun
The M60, officially the Machine Gun, Caliber 7.62 mm, M60, is a family of American general-purpose machine guns firing 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges from a disintegrating belt of M13 links. There are several types of ammunition approved for use in the M60, including ball, tracer, and armor-piercing rounds.The M60 Federation of American Scientists. It was adopted in 1957 and issued to units beginning in 1959. It has served with every branch of the U.S. military and still serves with the armed forces of other states. Its manufacture and continued upgrade for military and commercial purchase continues into the 21st century, although it has been replaced or supplemented in most roles by other designs, most notably the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
M61 Vulcan
The M61 Vulcan is a hydraulically, electrically, or pneumatically driven, six-barrel, air-cooled, electrically fired Gatling-style rotary cannon which fires rounds at an extremely high rate (typically 6,000 rounds per minute). The M61 and its derivatives have been the principal cannon armament of United States military fixed-wing aircraft for over sixty years. The M61 was originally produced by General Electric. After several mergers and acquisitions, it is currently produced by General Dynamics. Development At the end of World War II, the United States Army Air Forces began to consider new directions for future military aircraft guns. 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. 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 lim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
M2 Browning Machine Gun
The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, which was chambered for the .30-06 cartridge. The M2 uses Browning's larger and more powerful .50 BMG (12.7 mm) cartridge. The design has had many designations; the official U.S. military designation for the current infantry type is Browning Machine Gun, Cal. .50, M2, HB, Flexible. It is effective against infantry, unarmored or lightly armored vehicles and boats, light fortifications, and low-flying aircraft. The gun has been used extensively as a vehicle weapon and for aircraft armament by the United States since the 1930s. It was heavily used during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Falklands War, the Soviet–Afghan War, the Gulf War, the Iraq War, and the War in Afghanistan. It is the primary heavy machine gun of NATO ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hispano-Suiza HS
Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive–engineering company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and Damian Mateu as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft engines, trucks and weapons. In 1923, its French luxury car arm became a semi-autonomous partnership with the Spanish parent company. In 1946, the Spanish parent company sold all of its Spanish automotive assets to Enasa, a Spanish state-owned vehicle manufacturer, and the French arm continued as an independent aviation engine and components manufacturer under the Hispano-Suiza name. In 1968, Hispano-Suiza was taken over by the aerospace company Snecma, which is now part of the French Safran, Safran Group. An attempt to relaunch the marque was made by the company Hispano Suiza Cars associated with the Peralada Group (owned by the Suqué Mateu family) in 2019 with a fully-electric car. History Early years In 1898, a Spanish artillery captain, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BGM-71 TOW
The BGM-71 TOW ("Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided") is an American anti-tank missile. TOW replaced much smaller missiles like the SS.10 and ENTAC, offering roughly twice the effective range, a more powerful warhead, and a greatly improved semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) that could also be equipped with infrared cameras for night time use. First produced in 1970, TOW is one of the most widely used anti-tank guided missiles. It can be found in a wide variety of manually carried and vehicle-mounted forms, as well as widespread use on helicopters. Originally designed by Hughes Aircraft in the 1960s, the weapon is currently produced by Raytheon. History Previous designs Late in World War II, the German Army began experimenting with modified versions of the Ruhrstahl X-4 wire-guided missile. Originally developed for the ''Luftwaffe'' as an anti-bomber weapon, by changing the warhead to one using a high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) design, the new X-7 vers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CH-47 Chinook
The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is a tandem rotor helicopter developed by American rotorcraft company Piasecki Helicopter, Vertol and manufactured by Boeing Rotorcraft Systems#Background, Boeing Vertol. The Chinook is a heavy-lift helicopter that is among the heaviest lifting Western helicopters. Its name, Chinook, is from the Native Americans in the United States, Native American Chinook people of Oregon and Washington (state), Washington state. The Chinook was originally designed by Vertol, which had begun work in 1957 on a new tandem-rotor helicopter, designated as the Vertol Model 107 or V-107. Around the same time, the United States Department of the Army announced its intention to replace the Radial engine, piston engine–powered Sikorsky CH-37 Mojave with a new, gas turbine–powered helicopter. During June 1958, the U.S. Army ordered a small number of V-107s from Vertol under the ''YHC-1A'' designation; following testing, it came to be considered by some Army officials to be t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minigun
The M134 Minigun is an American 7.62×51mm NATO six-barrel rotary machine gun with a high rate of fire (2,000 to 6,000 rounds per minute). It features a Gatling-style rotating barrel assembly with an external power source, normally an electric motor. The "Mini" in the name is in comparison to larger-caliber designs that use a rotary barrel design, such as General Electric's earlier 20 mm M61 Vulcan, and "gun" for the use of rifle ammunition as opposed to autocannon shells. "Minigun" refers to a specific model of weapon that General Electric originally produced, but the term "minigun" has popularly come to refer to any externally powered rotary gun of rifle caliber. The term is sometimes used loosely to refer to guns of similar rates of fire and configuration, regardless of power source and caliber. The Minigun is used by several branches of the U.S. military. Versions are designated ''M134'' and ''XM196'' by the United States Army, and ''GAU-2/A'' and ''GAU-17/A'' by the U.S. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
M129 Grenade Launcher
The M129 is a 40 mm automatic grenade launcher that was used as an aircraft weapon in United States service. It was developed from the earlier M75 and was capable of using both the high-velocity 40x53 mm grenade and the lower velocity 40x46 mm grenade. Overview The M129 was a redesign of the M75 grenade launcher that featured reduced recoil and improved mounting and provided an increased rate of fire of up to 400 rpm compared to 225 rpm for the M75. The M129 was used with the chin-mounted M28 series armament subsystem used on the AH-1G, AH-1Q, MOD AH-1S, and production AH-1S Cobra. The M129 was also used on the: *AH-56 Cheyenne on the XM51 *UH-1H Huey on the XM94 *OH-6A Cayuse on the XM8 *OH-58 Kiowa light observation helicopters on the XM8 Design The M129 was effectively a redesign of the older M75 to incorporate a concentric cam and improved mount.''US Army TACOM-RI''. 5 October 200U.S. ARMY HELICOPTER WEAPONS. Access Date: 25 January 2008 The major problem with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
OH-6 Cayuse
The Hughes OH-6 Cayuse is a single-engine light helicopter that was designed and produced by the American aerospace company Hughes Helicopters. Its formal name is derived from the Cayuse people while its "Loach" nickname comes from the acronym for the Light Observation Helicopter (LOH) programme that it was procured under. The OH-6 was developed in response to the United States Army issuing Technical Specification 153 in 1960 to replace its Bell H-13 Sioux fleet. The ''Model 369'' was submitted by Hughes, and competed against the two finalists, Fairchild-Hiller and Bell, for a production contract. On 27 February 1963, the first prototype conducted its maiden flight. The Model 369 had a distinctive teardrop-shaped fuselage that had strong crashworthiness properties and provided excellent external visibility. Its four-bladed full-articulated main rotor made it particularly agile, and it was suitable for personnel transport, escort and attack missions, and observation. During May ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
M75 Grenade Launcher
The M75 is a 40mm automatic grenade launcher that was used primarily as an aircraft weapon in United States service and was one of the first weapons to use the high velocity 40x53mm grenade. Overview Development of the M75 began in the late 1950s by the Philco-Ford Corporation (later referred to in this time period as Ford Aerospace). While 40mm low velocity grenades were being developed for infantry use, the M75 was to be an aircraft weapon using a higher velocity grenade for additional range. While an aircraft gun pod designated the XM13 was developed for it, it would see far greater use as a helicopter weapon, mainly during the Vietnam War. The most notable systems the M75 was part of were the M5 used on the UH-1 Iroquois and the turreted M28 system used on the AH-1 Cobra. In the last case the weapon was quickly replaced by the improved M129 launcher. Design The weapon is described as an "air-cooled, electrically powered, rapid firing weapon."United States, 1969. p. F-4 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
