The return of the B-17 ball turret!
This is not for the MV-22 that the Marines will soon deploy to Iraq. At this time it is just the CV-22 for Special Ops.
Posted on 09/21/2007 8:36:34 AM PDT by Yo-Yo
A Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey may soon be equipped with a gun within the cabin that can fire on targets at all angles relative to the aircraft's position.
US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has disclosed that it is seeking a vendor to provide an "interim all-quadrant defensive weapon system" for its CV-22 tiltrotors. SOCOM would require flight testing to begin within 120 days of a contract award, according to a solicitation document posted on 14 September.
The notice may be a signal that SOCOM believes it needs greater self-protection on the CV-22 than currently available on the aircraft. As an interim measure, the US Marine Corps has installed a .50-calibre gun on the tail ramp of its MV-22 fleet, which is now making its combat debut in Iraq.
"Anything that the services want to pursue to get them to a weapon system that works for their needs we want to support," says Naval Air Systems Command.
But proposals for an all-quadrant gun have been shelved for several years due to a lack of funds. The V-22 programme office is seeking to obtain $82 million in supplemental defence spending for fiscal year 2008 to launch development of such a weapon, but the SOCOM initiative would move even faster.
Previous studies on installing an internal gun have focused on the aircraft's nose, but SOCOM's solicitation would require placing the weapon inside the cabin. The most obvious location would be in the so-called "hell-hole" in the cabin floor.
Both the USMC and SOCOM are considering a range of weapon types, from a 7.62mm minigun to a .50-calibre machine gun to a grenade launcher.
The return of the B-17 ball turret!
This is not for the MV-22 that the Marines will soon deploy to Iraq. At this time it is just the CV-22 for Special Ops.
I saw one of these flying a few months ago. WAAAaayyyyy cool.
Seen a few of them flying around here...............
We saw two takeoff yesterday from KAFB in NM.
I heard on the local news that ours are gonna be moving to some new base soon, if not already...........they are a sight to see.....gonna miss them...........
Why not all three? The more rounds per minute the better.
They have a great sound.
That would limit the amount of human cargo they could carry.
Chin, side and rear mounted chain guns.
We still have lots of AC-130’s. They make great sounds, too.......Especially at night when they target practice out on Eglin!...............
I worry that the MV-22’s carbon fiber props are too vulnerable to light arms fire compared to more traditional metal propellers/rotors.
It would need to either be low profile or retractable. It doesn’t look like there is a lot of ground clearance.
We have 130’s too, but they’re Pararescue, not gunships.
Cool machine, but will they use it ?? Seems our hands are lately tied when it comes to air-warfarfe.
Seems like a couple of .50’s sticking out either side would be pretty good too. Maybe a minigun someplace. :-)
On another topic, I’d really like to see the Coast Guard pick up some of these. Seems like an ideal long range SAR platform. Can cover a lot of territory in a hurry and carry a lot of stuff out, and people back.
I would suggest a cockpit controlled via HUD bottom mounted turret employing the M134 Gatling 7.62mm, and either the M242 25mm chaingun or the M230 30mm chaingun.
I agree, it may need to be retractable.
How about a twin mini gun turret in the belly? Retractable.
You just described the gun on an Apache.
Gun placement is tricky on this bird. In the “airplane” configuration the props swing very low. The gun placement would need to be as low as possible, meaning something in the belly or chin. But since the there’s little clearance on the belly when on the ground, a gun may need to retract when landing.
A retracting turret is going to be expensive, complex, and take up a third of the cabin.
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