would they ever build a GAU-8 or similar equiped MBT?

I was wondering what everyone�s thoughts are on the idea of a MBT style vehicle (maybe an M1 Abrahams chassis or something similar) equipped with a GAU-8 or something like it (gattling gun) for use in urban combat (make it so it can point almost 90 degrees to it could be used against people on roof tops), anti aircraft, and anti personnel duty, and of course it can still be used MBT�s as it is on the A10?

I have always thought that something based on the M1 equipped with a GAU-8 would be a very devastating weapon especially in urban style environments when some heavy firepower is needed to support infantry units.

So what do you all think?


[edit on 20-9-2004 by boosted]

I've been searching and searching but cannot find any pictures to validate your idea. But I HAVE seen gatling guns on tanks and other fighting vehicles. Battleships use gatling guns to intercept incoming missiles too I believe.

www.combataircraft.com...


Someone could mount two of these babies on a stryker vehicle but not a M1A2. The American military is going lighter in the future but these weapons would be devestating in close quarter street battles!

catscratchers.net... - well heres a link to a video of a minigun hounted on a civilian 4x4 - some destructive power there, imagine a GAU8!

Russina Shilka

German gepard

here are some versions that spew out a lot less then if they had the gattling guns on top.

verified:

I actually was just looking at those sites not 5 minutes ago. Feaky.

What's the benefits of a Gatling gun over the 25mm Chain guns that arm many vehicles in the Armed Forces of Several Western countries.

well, that gun can gut a tank totally with one tiny pull of the trigger, one small burst, it is definetly a powerful weapon, and the USAF are fools to be letting the A-10 go

having said that, i think it would be pretty dumb to put it on a ground vehicle, it's just too massive, the ground vehicle would have to be huge. the A-10 was built around the gun, and it's bigger then any tank.

i think they should make a new flying tank (plane) equipped with that gun.

Originally posted by wlee15
What's the benefits of a Gatling gun over the 25mm Chain guns that arm many vehicles in the Armed Forces of Several Western countries.

The only diffference is the rate of fire, nothing else.

Here's one with Volcan:


I'm sure this would fit to tank's turret.

it may seem like a cool idea . but the practicalies of such a platform would IMHO be a nightmare

the weight and trunion size would limit the maximum elevation , plus turret height would increase if you raisae the trunion to accomodate greater elevation

the weight alone woulds limit the viehicle that could mount it , 7 tons IIRC i dunno if that includes ammo

reloading would require an additional vehicle that is virtually irreplaceable

at least with a tank you can hand ball the rounds from a truck through the turret hatches

i dunno if the latest generation tanks still use this - but it worked for the chieftain and a stalwart truck the last time i saw a tank beeing repleniushed

as an urban infantry support vehicle i would go with the " wiesel 1 "

for the price of one MTB you would get a squadron

equiped with TOW [ or a newer missile ] , various guns from 7.62 gatling to 20mm and possibly auto grenade launches

you could support a company in FIBUA ops no problem

a 65 ton tank becomes very vulnerable in close quaters fighting and whatever weapon it has it cannot be all things to all people

leave tanks to duke it out - one shot one kill - and the GUA8 is the most hideosly ineficient ant infantry gun you could dream up


YRS - APE

Originally posted by ignorant_ape
the weight and trunion size would limit the maximum elevation , plus turret height would increase if you raisae the trunion to accomodate greater elevation
the weight alone woulds limit the viehicle that could mount it , 7 tons IIRC i dunno if that includes ammo

Gun itself weights under 300 kgs.
And where the hell did you dig that 7 ton WAG?
... or do you want ammunition load of 10 000?

www.globalsecurity.org...
www.periscope1.com...

and the GUA8 is the most hideosly ineficient ant infantry gun you could dream up.

Would be nice to see you to say that after couple 30mm HEI hits!
... if there's anything left from you.






www.danshistory.com...

Thanks for posting those pics ET. I actually came across most of them in searching for a gattling gun mounted on a tank.

While the GAU8 is a huge machine, and it would be difficult to mount on something like an Abrahams, especially in a low profile style turret. I think it could be done though, and they could just build a bigger turret to house it. I think the biggest design hurdle would be where to store all the ammo, and its going to need a lot considering it can spit something like 77 a second!!


I think they could mount a .50 BMG gattling gun (if there even is one?) on a tank, or wheeled vehicle like a LAV or Stryker very easily, and it would essentially offer the same devastating firepower in a urban/close combat infantry support type role.


This is a pic of a LAV with the 25mm GAU12 setup for anti-aircraft duty! Now this is what I�m talking about





[edit on 21-9-2004 by boosted]

[edit on 21-9-2004 by boosted]

How 'bout this: In the future a MBT that has a main gun that fires 105mm, 180mm rounds a the rate a chain gun or rotary 20mm? I know that would take a few leaps in tech, but ooohhh, the destruction an enemy would face. Probably overkill, to say the least. I kinda' thought that this thread's title was alluding to this kind of weapon.

[edit on 21-9-2004 by Der Kapitan]

Der Kapitan: I like that idea, although as you said there would need to be some technical breathroughs for that to happen. Like how to cool the materials used in a 100+mm gattling cannon! cause I would imagine it might get a little hot??

They could even build a Crudader type monster with a 155mm GAU weapon that could literally rain fire on the enemy

Originally posted by boosted
I think they could mount a .50 BMG gattling gun (if there even is one?) on a tank, or wheeled vehicle like a LAV or Stryker very easily, and it would essentially offer the same devastating firepower in a urban/close combat infantry support type role.

This is a pic of a LAV with the 25mm GAU12 setup for anti-aircraft duty! Now this is what I’m talking about

.50 BMG (or couple of them) couldn't even come close to firepower of Avenger, we're now talking about High Explosive Incendiary shells.

Equaliser is pretty much scaled down Avenger.

Originally posted by boosted
Like how to cool the materials used in a 100+mm gattling cannon! cause I would imagine it might get a little hot??

There would be bigger and more imminent problem than that... Recoil.

Avenger's recoil is already so big that it could literally stop forward movement of whole plane if fired long enough.

recoil force 19,000 lb (8,618 kg) max peak
14,000 lb (6,350 kg) recurrent peak
9,000 lb (4,082 kg) avg at 4,200 spm

E.T. :

i dunno where i got the 7000Kg tare from , blame my failing memory :-)

in my defence the " other stores " payload is 7258Kg in bombs and missiles

this site :

www.military.cz...

gives the dry weight as 1800Kg , and the ammo load adds another 2300Kg

in an AFV platform you would want more than the 1174 rounds carried on the A10

that load only gives 10 * 2 sec bursts , compared to the 40 to 60 rounds of a modern MBT

as for its anti personell value i did say ineficient , i do not dispute what a hit would do to a rifleman but using such a massive weapon to target infantry is an horrendous waste of resources

each round wights 1.8kg and will have an unaceptable price tag for killing one soldier

using 50 to knowck out a 2 million USD tank is ok , but not a couple of grunts

if you want an antipersonel AFV weapon , i would nominate the tri barrel .50 cal gatling gun the reasons being

light weight
relativly cheap ammo
good range
it can penetrate personal armour at 1000m +
it has the power and range to take out helicopters and soft skin veicles


YRS - APE

Saw this in antoher thread, could be possible to rig onto a vehicle.

www.royal-navy.mod.uk...

I think that would be wasteful, to mount a GAU-8 onto a tank chassy
and use it against all sort of targets.

My father was a tank commaner. I heard from him that once you acquire a target, you can hit it with quite a bit of precision. With a conventional cannon, that is. And it's smoke. Why bother with the GAU???

Two things and I hope they have not been covered:

1) The recoil: ITs so bad that the A-10 actually slows down. If it carried an unlimited supply of ammo, it could actually slow the plane to the point of a stall if it were on continuous fire. Ground vehicles would have a hard time with this.

2) The 30mm is a killer weapon, but one of the resons that it is so good is that it when shot from a plane, has a favorible angle, and the armour on the top of a tank is thinner than the sides of a turret or its front slope. If you wanted to use it as an anti armour weapon, it would have a harder time penatrating the turret from the sides etc. Would anihalate an APC though.