In 1861 Richard J. Gatling designed and developed the Gatling gun, a rapid and continuous firing weapon to be used by the Union forces in the American Civil War. Through years of research and upgrades, the United States Military slowly redesigned this deadly machine until it could be most effectively used in modern day battlefields. In 1977, the newest form of the Gatling gun was introduced into the service of the U.S. Military. This weapon is now commonly known as the GAU-8 Avenger, a weapon so powerful and destructive that it forced the military to develop plans for a completely new aircraft, the A-10 Warthog, simply to be able to transport it efficiently.
This weapon, weighing just under 2 tons, measures roughly 19 feet and 5.5 inches (5.931 m) from the muzzle to the farthest point of the ammunition system. All together, the gun in its entirety takes up a little over a 3rd of the plane, which reaches 53 feet and 4 inches (16.16 m) from nose to tail. Because of its impressive size, the nose wheel of the A-10 Warthog must be offset to make room for the massive gun along the central axis. In essence, although the A-10 does carry various forms of explosives in its arsenal, the GAU-8 Avenger dominates the aircraft.
In order to avoid overheating, the GAU-8 utilizes 7 barrels, each measuring over 5 meters long. When active, the gun spins at such a rapid rate that it has a potential of firing 4200 rounds per minute. Each of these 30mm rounds, along with the plastic and metal casing surrounding them, are 29 cm long and weigh more than .5 kg. Because of the weapon’s impressive length, along with internal rifling grooves, each round can travel up to 6 km, accurately striking up to 80% of its rounds within 10 meters of its target.
The GAU-8 fires two different types of ammunition, the PGU-14/B Armor Piercing Incendiary and the PGU-13/B High Explosive Incendiary, each round reaching a velocity of 3,500 f/s (roughly 1,070 m/s). Because of the high mass of the ammunition and the explosive nature of each round, the weapon is fully capable of penetrating 38mm of armor at a distance of 1000 meters. This is saying that each individual round has the capacity to penetrate any vehicle supporting 1.5 inches of armor before exploding, very likely destroying vital machinery and killing anybody unfortunate enough to be nearby.
Here’s a video link for all you lazy people out there who just skimmed the information above… http://youtu.be/1Oc-xbpy-OI
To summarize, this gun was created with the single minded goal of messing tanks up. And the best part of all is that this was all made possible by mankind’s knowledge of applied physics. And so I ask you, what other forms of aircraft technology and accessories can you think of whose creation can be credited to modern day physics? Can you think of any improvements to technology that will become available to us in the future? If so, explain.
My question to you is: is there any other planes that you know of that uses the GAU-8 Avenger gatling gun?
ReplyDeleteI think another form of technology that can be attributed to the modern day knowledge of physics is Boeing's new "high lift, high efficiency" wing on the new 787 and 747-800 aircraft. This new design of a wing pays particularly close attention to a new form of wingtip- one that sweeps back and curves up slightly. This wingtip's purpose is to dramatically reduce wingtip vortices, a byproduct of the production of lift. I think these technologies will be used to make new engine designs and to make even better wing designs in the future!
ReplyDeleteAnother creation attributed to physics I can think of, like Mason in the post above, is the addition of winglets in the late 1980s. These added a great deal of efficiency that was calculated precisely due to physics.
ReplyDeleteFuture technology that can be attributed to physics is the modern day composite technology that is designed to make aircraft designs more cleaner and sleeker that eliminate almost all drag and lighten up the weight of the airplane, thereby making it more fuel efficient.
-Jason
Some attributions physics has offered towards the improvement of aviation as a whole, is the goal in noise reduction. With the Subsonic Fixed Wing Project, NASA has developed new ways to greatly reduce noise in aircraft. From the ridged edges of the end of a jet engine to the flex in a 787 Dreamliner, noise reduction is a huge step towards making airplanes more acceptable as a normal part of life.
ReplyDeleteMy question is: Are gatling guns resource efficient? And if not, what are some better methods in dog-fights?
@Shane- Well, not that I know of. I got most of my information from various sources on the internet and not once did I see any mention of a plane that used the Avenger (other than the A10). However, I personally don't see why it could not be modified to be fit onto a different plane. Off the top of my head, I'd imagine it would be the perfect addition to something like a modern day form of the B-17 "Flying Fortress". (Do you know of any planes that fit that description?)
ReplyDelete@jjlinder- Efficient? Yeah, right. I'm pretty confident that they are one of the most inefficient things out there. However, they do get the job done. When the enemy is wheeling 50 tons of steel with the capacity to launch artillery in your direction, all that really matters is stopping it before it messes your forces up too badly. Remember, this weapon is not meant to be used in dog-fights with other planes. It is meant to be shot in 1 or 2 second bursts at (relatively) slow moving ground targets...
ReplyDeleteMy question would be, is there any tank that can withstand getting struck by this weapon?
ReplyDeletePetr Litvinko