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To: thucydides
"Just now on Fox News, we were told the gunship "can fire 1800 rounds per minute." This is actually the rate of fire of one of the two 20mm Gatling gun cannons. It does not mention the 40mm Bofors, nor the 105mm cannon that can fire 6 - 10 high explosive shells per minute"

You picked that up too, LOL. Actually, the GE M61/A1 20mm Vulcan fires 6000 rounds per minute, as set up on the F-16. The F-16 will fire it's entire ammo load (510 rounds) in 5 seconds if the trigger is depressed and held. Having had the pleasure of knowing a couple 130 gunship air crew members, I can tell you that in the Vietnam era, they would be standing knee deep in shell casings at the end of a fire mission. Have a nice day, taliban clmers.

83 posted on 10/16/2001 12:55:28 PM PDT by ScreamingFist
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To: ScreamingFist
Actually, the GE M61/A1 20mm Vulcan fires 6000 rounds per minute... It was set up that way when used as a self-propelled air defense weapon was well.

One of the most impressive sights I ever experienced was watching a Vulcan pour fire into junk vehicles at Fort Bliss from a distance of about a mile and a half. Those 20 mm rounds are about 6" long, and even with every fifth round a tracer, it looked like a ray gun, solid red. The sound can only be compared to a double A fuel dragster at full throttle. It looked like someone was standing inside the vehicle heaving buckets of brass out as fast as they could. As the rounds they were shooting that night were HE, the effects on the junk vehicles were very impressive. What was left were pieces small enough to put in your pocket. All in the matter of a very few minutes.

94 posted on 10/16/2001 1:38:00 PM PDT by jimt
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