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 US 50mm chain gun autocannon. The XM1204 High Explosive Air Burst round is a 50 x 228 mm munition developed for the US military.[1] The projectile itself is 50 mm in diameter, and is of an advanced design
Picatinny is slated to manufacture a 50mm chain-gun, to use this munition, and the related XM1203 Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot with Trace round.[1] The cannon is a larger and more modern version of the 25 mm Bushmaster cannon used on Bradley fighting vehicles, various armored cars related to the Stryker, and as the main armament on smaller naval vessels, and a secondary armament on larger vessels.
Chain-guns are autocannons that use an external power source to cycle rounds through the weapon.[1][2] This differs from automatic firearms and most autocannons, which harness some of the energy of the exploding round to cycle the weapon. When power is available from a vehicle's engine or battery, the gunner has more control over the rate of fire, and the weapon is not stopped when a dud is encountered.
The chain-gun that will fire the 50mm XM1203 and XM1204 is the XM913.[3] Although its shells are twice the diameter of the 25mm M242 Bushmaster, the 50mm cannons is not much longer than the smaller weapon.[4] The overall lengths of the 25mm cannon and 50mm cannon are 105.2 cm (41.42 in) and 157.7 cm (62.09 in), respectively; while the portion of the gun that intrudes into the turret are 30.0 cm (11.81 in) and 40.1 cm (15.79 in), respectively.
The munition is programmable. the gunner can select from three detonation modes.[1]
- When in point detonate mode the projectile's high explosive detonates when it hits a target.[1]
- In point detonate delay mode the high explosive detonates a brief instant after it hits a target.[1] The delay is intended to let the projectile first penetrate a wall, and explode when it emerges on the other side.
- In air burst mode the cannon's aiming system programs the munition to explode in the air above the target.[1][5] When the gunner aims his or her sight on the desired target, and presses their trigger halfway, the aiming system calculates the range to the target. They can then raise their sight slightly above the target, and when they pull the trigger all the way the aiming system will instruct the round to explode in the air above the target. Enemies hiding behind an obstacle can then be killed or wounded without blowing a hole through the obstacle.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6
Ed Lopez. Army engineers develop greater lethality, speed to support future combat vehicle, US Army, 2020-07-09. Retrieved on 2020-10-22. “In contrast, the ALAS-MC HEAB-T uses a fuze that introduces a multimode programmable capability. This flexibility will enable settings of point detonate (PD), point detonate delay (PDD), and Airburst (AB), creating a fundamental change to how the warfighter conducts enemy engagements.”
- ↑
Kris Osborn. The Army is Testing a New 50mm Cannon, National Interest, 2019-04-12. Retrieved on 2020-10-22. “The 50mm cannon incorporates adaptations of the original Apache 30mm Chain Gun technology, which fires a fast-paced belt of 'linked' ammunition. While equipped with targeting technology for individual targets, the Apache 30mm can often be used as somewhat of an 'area' weapon to blanket an area with dispersed, mobile rapid-fire attack. Such a tactic can both lay down suppressive fire, enabling ground troops to maneuver or itself directly destroy small, moving ground targets.”
- ↑
US Army Engineers Develop Lethal Combat Vehicle Armament System, Defense World, 2020-07-13. Retrieved on 2020-10-23. “Key features of the system include a high explosive airburst munition against personnel targets including behind walls; an armor piercing munition against materiel targets; integrated fire control enhancements; graphical user interface and enhanced laser rangefinder. Integrated into the design are the 50mm auto cannon, known as the XM913, capable of firing both XM1204 High Explosive Airburst with Trace (HEAB-T), and XM1203 Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot with Trace (APFSDS-T) munitions.”
- ↑
Chuck Hill. 50mm Chain Gun, More Detail, Chuck Hill's blog, 2019-04-21. Retrieved on 2020-10-23. “Comparison of 50mm Bushmaster III with the 30mm Bushmaster II. By comparison the 25mm’s length over all is 105.2 in (2.672 m) and its barrel length is 85.6 in (2.175 m).”
- ↑
Brian Wang. US Army projects developing more accurate and lethal 30mm and 50mm guns, Next Big Future, 2016-09-17. Retrieved on 2020-10-22. “In 2017, will validate PABM fuze technology and warhead lethality data, iterating and improving as necessary; using a commercially developed barrel, demonstrate PABM and AP effectiveness against personnel and materiel targets; design and fabricate 50mm weapon and ammunition handling system (AHS) prototypes; exploit advances in advanced Fire Control hardware to improve system performance; mature Fire Control software”
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