M134 Minigun

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Minigun
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Machine Gun, High Rate, Caliber 7.62-mm, M134
A Dillon Aero M134D minigun in 2017
TypeRotary medium machine gun
Place of originUnited States
Service history
In service1963–present
Used bySee Users
Wars
Production history
DesignerGeneral Electric
Designed1960
Manufacturer
Produced1962–present
VariantsSee Design and variants
Specifications
Mass85 lb (39 kg), 41 lb (19 kg) lightweight mod.
Length801.6 mm (31.56 in)
Barrel length558.8 mm (22.00 in)

Cartridge7.62×51mm NATO
Barrels6
ActionElectrically driven rotary breech
Rate of fireVariable, 2,000–6,000 rpm
Muzzle velocity2,800 ft/s (853 m/s)
Maximum firing range3,280 ft (1,000 m; 1,090 yd)
Feed systemDisintegrating M13 linked belt or linkless feed; dependent on installation [500-5,000-round belt]
SightsDependent on installation; no fixed sights

The M134 Minigun is an American

Gatling-style rotating barrel assembly with an external power source, normally an electric motor. The "Mini" in the name is in comparison to larger-caliber designs that use a rotary barrel design, such as General Electric's earlier 20 mm M61 Vulcan, and "gun" for the use of rifle ammunition as opposed to autocannon
shells.

"Minigun" refers to a specific model of weapon that General Electric originally produced, but the term "minigun" has popularly come to refer to any externally powered rotary gun of rifle caliber. The term is sometimes used loosely to refer to guns of similar rates of fire and configuration, regardless of power source and caliber.

The Minigun is used by several branches of the U.S. military. Versions are designated M134 and XM196 by the United States Army, and GAU-2/A and GAU-17/A by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy.

History

Background: electrically driven Gatling gun

The ancestor to the modern minigun was a hand cranked mechanical device invented in the 1860s by Richard Jordan Gatling. He later replaced the hand-cranked mechanism of a rifle-caliber Gatling gun with an electric motor, a relatively new invention at the time. Even after Gatling slowed the mechanism, the new electric-powered Gatling gun had a theoretical rate of fire of 3,000 rounds per minute, roughly three times the rate of a typical modern, single-barreled machine gun. Gatling's electric-powered design received U.S. Patent #502,185 on July 25, 1893.[3] Despite his improvements, the Gatling gun fell into disuse after cheaper, lighter-weight, recoil and gas operated machine guns were invented; Gatling himself went bankrupt for a period.[4]

During

rotary split-breech design, which is different to that of conventional rotary gun designs.[6] None of these German guns went into production during the war, although a competing Siemens prototype (possibly using a different action), which was tried on the Western Front, scored a victory in aerial combat.[5] The British also experimented with this type of split-breech during the 1950s, but they were also unsuccessful.[7]

Minigun: 1960s–Vietnam

In the 1960s, the United States Armed Forces began exploring modern variants of the electric-powered, rotating barrel Gatling-style weapons for use in the Vietnam War. American forces in the Vietnam War, which used helicopters as one of the primary means of transporting soldiers and equipment through the dense jungle, found that their helicopters were vulnerable to small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attacks when they slowed to land. Although helicopters had mounted single-barrel machine guns, using them to repel attackers hidden in the dense jungle foliage often led to overheated barrels or cartridge jams.[8]

To develop a more reliable weapon with a higher rate of fire, General Electric designers scaled down the rotary-barrel 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon for 7.62×51mm NATO ammunition. The resulting weapon, designated M134 and known as the "Minigun", could fire up to 6,000 rounds per minute without overheating. The gun has a variable (i.e. selectable) rate of fire, specified to fire at rates of up to 6,000 rpm with most applications set at rates between 3,000 and 4,000 rounds per minute.

View of M134 from inside a UH-1 Huey, Nha Trang AB, 1967

The Minigun was mounted on Hughes OH-6 Cayuse and Bell OH-58 Kiowa side pods; in the turret and on pylon pods of Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters; and on door, pylon and pod mounts on Bell UH-1 Iroquois transport helicopters. Several larger aircraft were outfitted with miniguns specifically for close air support: the Cessna A-37 Dragonfly with an internal gun and with pods on wing hardpoints; and the Douglas A-1 Skyraider, also with pods on wing hardpoints. Other famous gunship airplanes are the Douglas AC-47 Spooky, the Fairchild AC-119, and the Lockheed AC-130.[8]

Dillon Aero minigun

The U.S. government had procured some 10,000 Miniguns during the

Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to demonstrate its products. A delinker, used to separate cartridges from ammunition belts and feed them into the gun housing, and other parts were tested on Campbell's ranges. The 160th SOAR were impressed by the delinker's performance and began ordering them by 1997. This prompted Dillon to improve other design aspects including the bolt, housing and barrel. Between 1997 and 2001, Dillon Aero was producing 25–30 products a year. In 2001, it was working on a new bolt design that increased performance and service life. By 2002, virtually every component of the minigun had been improved, so Dillon began producing complete weapons with improved components. The guns were purchased quickly by the 160th SOAR as its standardized weapon system. The gun then went through the Army's formal procurement system approval process, and in 2003 the Dillon Aero minigun was certified and designated M134D.[9] Once the Dillon Aero system was approved for general military service, Dillon Aero GAU-17s entered Marine Corps service and were well received in replacing the GE GAU-17s serving on Marine UH-1s.[10]

A U.S. Air Force rotary-wing crewman fires a minigun during the Vietnam War.

The core of the M134D was a steel housing and rotor. To focus on weight reduction, a titanium housing and rotor were introduced, creating the M134D-T which had reduced weight from 62 lb (28 kg) to 41 lb (19 kg). The gun housing had a 500,000-round lifespan before it wore out, which was far higher than a conventional machine gun's 40,000-round lifespan but lower than that of other rotary guns. A hybrid of the two weapons resulted in the M134D-H, which had a steel housing and titanium rotor. It was cheaper with the steel component and only 1 lb (0.45 kg) heavier than the M134D-T, and restored its lifespan to 1.5 million rounds.[9][11] The M134D-H is currently in use on various 160th Regiment platforms.[9]

Dillon also created specialized mounts and ammunition-handling systems. Initially, mounts were made only for aviation systems. Then from 2003 to 2005, the Navy began mounting Dillon miniguns on specialized small boats. In 2005, the

PVC pipes tied together to resemble barrels to intimidate enemies.[9]

Garwood Industries minigun

Garwood Industries created the M134G version with several modifications to the original GE system. The optimum rate of fire was determined by Garwood to be around 3,200 rounds per minute (rpm). The M134G is being produced with this firing rate as well as 4,000 rpm and the previous standard 3,000 rpm rate.[12] Garwood Industries made several other modifications to the 1960s Minigun design in order to meet modern-day military and ISO standards.[12] This includes modifications to the drive motor, feeder and barrel clutch assembly.[13]

From 2015 to 2017 Garwood Industries CEO Tracy Garwood collaborated with firearms dealer Michael Fox and weapons smuggler Tyler Carlson to supply miniguns to Mexican drug cartels. Garwood submitted false paperwork to the ATF claiming that some M134G rotor housings had been destroyed when they were actually sold to the gun-running ring. In 2017 federal agents raided Fox's home and recovered two of the rotor housings that Garwood had reported destroyed. A number of the rotor housings were shipped to Mexico and a completed M134G using a reportedly destroyed rotor housing was recovered from a cartel by Mexican law enforcement.[14] Garwood claimed he did not know that the intended buyers were Mexican cartels although he was aware that they were to be used for illegal activity.[15]

Design and variants

A Royal Navy minigun, separated from mounting and ammunition

The basic minigun is a six-barrel, air-cooled, and electrically driven rotary machine gun. The electric drive rotates the weapon within its housing, with a rotating firing pin assembly and rotary chamber.

hydraulic. Other rotating-barrel cannons are powered by the gas pressure or recoil energy of fired cartridges. A gas-operated variant, designated XM133, was also developed.[17]

While the weapon can feed from linked ammunition, it requires a delinking feeder to strip the links as the rounds are fed into the chambers. The original feeder unit was designated MAU-56/A, but has since been replaced by an improved MAU-201/A unit.[18]

SOC-R firing a Minigun at the Stennis Space Center
in Mississippi, August 2009

The

XM53 Armament Subsystem on the Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne helicopter.[23]

Another variant was developed by the USAF specifically for flexible installations, beginning primarily with the Bell UH-1N Twin Huey helicopter, as the GAU-17/A. Produced by General Dynamics, this version has a slotted flash hider. The primary end users of the GAU-17/A have been the USN and the United States Marine Corps (USMC), which mount the gun as defensive armament on a number of helicopters and surface ships. GAU-17/As from helicopters were rushed into service for ships on pintle mountings taken from Mk16 20 mm guns for anti-swarm protection in the Gulf ahead of the 2003 Iraq War - 59 systems were installed in 30 days.[24] The GAU-17/A is designated Mk 44 in the machine gun series[24] and is generally known as the Mk 44 when installed on British warships.

The weapon is part of both the

A/A49E-11 armament system on the UH-1N; and of the A/A49E-13 armament subsystem on the USAF Sikorsky HH-60H Pave Hawk helicopter. The weapons on these systems feature a selectable fire rate of either 2,000 or 4,000 rpm. There is mention of a possible GAUSE-17 designation (GAU-Shipboard Equipment-17), in reference to the system when mounted on surface ships, though this would not follow the official ASETDS designation system's format.[25][26]

FAST Marine firing a GAU-17/A minigun
GAU-17/A
US Army designation US Air Force designation US Navy designation Description
XM134/M134 GAU-2/A N/A 7.62×51mm NATO GE "Minigun" 6-barreled machine gun
N/A GAU-2A/A N/A GAU-2/A variant; unknown differences
M134 GAU-2B/A Mk 25 MOD0[citation needed] GAU-2A/A variant; unknown differences
N/A GAU-17/A N/A GAU-2B/A variant; can be mounted to a variety of different craft, uses either an MAU-201/A or MAU-56/A delinking feeder.
N/A N/A Mk 44[27] Unknown differences
XM214 Microgun N/A N/A Scaled-down variant of the XM134 firing the 5.56×45mm NATO round. The U.S. military lost interest in the project, and it never entered mass production.[28]
XM196 N/A N/A M134/GAU-2B/A variant; housing modified by addition of an ejection sprocket; for use in the
AH-56
helicopter

Gun pods and other mounting systems

SUU-11/A pod in the cargo door of an AC-47

One of the first applications of the weapon was in aircraft armament pods. These

M18 by the U.S. Army, was a relatively simple unit, completely self-contained, with a 1,500-round magazine directly feeding delinked ammunition into the weapon. This means the Minigun fitted to the pod does not require the standard MAU-56/A delinking feeder unit.[29]
A number of variants of this pod exist.

Initially on fixed-wing gunships such as the

L/60 Bofors cannons in the aptly named AC-130A 'Surprise Package'. This configuration lasted two more years until, in late 1971, the AC-130E Pave Aegis arrived, which did away with the miniguns altogether and one of the 40mm Bofors and instead went to the configuration of two 20mm M61 Vulcan, one 40mm L/60 Bofors and one 105 mm (4.13 in) M102 howitzer, a configuration that lasted until the early 2000s when the AC-130Hs (the AC-130Es had had an avionics upgrade and redesignated to H models) underwent a refit and the two M61 Vulcans were removed and replaced with one General Dynamics 25 mm (0.984 in) GAU-12/U Equalizer 5-barrel rotary cannon (while still retaining the H suffix).[citation needed
]

The improved MXU-470/As were even being proposed for lighter aircraft such as the

M197 20 mm cannon.[32]

In September 2013, Dillon Aero released the DGP2300 gun pod for the M134D-H. It contains 3,000 rounds, enough ammunition to fire the minigun for a full minute. The system is entirely self-contained, so it can be mounted on any aircraft that can handle the weight, rotational torque, and recoil force (190 lbf (850 N)) of the gun. The pod has its own battery which can be wired into the aircraft's electrical system to maintain a charge.[33]

MXU-470/A modules in an AC-47
Douglas AC-47 Spooky with SUU-11/A pods
US Army designation US Air Force designation Description
XM18 SUU-11/A Gun pod fitted with the GAU-2/A/M134 7.62 mm machine gun and fixed rate of fire of 4,000 RPM[34]
XM18E1/M18 SUU-11A/A SUU-11/A/XM18 variant; various improvements including additional auxiliary power and selectable fire-rate capability (2,000 or 4,000 RPM)[35]
M18E1/A1 SUU-11B/A SUU-11A/A/M18 variant; differences modified selectable fire-rate capability (3,000 or 6,000 RPM)[21]
N/A MXU-470/A Emerson Electric module for mounting a GAU-2B/A minigun; used in AC-47, AC-119G/K, and AC-130A/E/H aircraft

Various iterations of the minigun have also been used in a number of armament subsystems for helicopters, with most of these subsystems being created by the United States. The first systems utilized the weapon in a forward firing role for a variety of helicopters, some of the most prominent examples being the

M27 for the OH-6
. It also formed the primary turret-mounted armament for a number of members of the Bell AH-1 Cobra family. The weapon was also used as a pintle-mounted door gun on a wide variety of transport helicopters, a role it continues to fulfill today.

US Navy designation Description
Mk 77 MOD0[citation needed] Machine gun mount for the GAU-2/Mk 25 MOD0/GAU-17 series of machine guns; deck mount applications
Mk 16 MOD8, MOD9, or MOD11 Mount for medium and heavy machine guns onto naval, ground, or air vehicles[36]
Mk 49 MOD0 and MOD1
Remote weapon station mount[37]

Users

Map with M134 Minigun users in blue

See also

  • Multiple-barrel firearm – Type of firearm with more than one barrel
  • List of multiple barrel firearms
     – List of weapons with multiple barrels
  • GAU-19 – Electrically-driven heavy machine gun
  • Glagolev-Shipunov-Gryazev GShG-7.62
     – 7.62 mm Gatling-type machine gun
  • Komodo Armament Eli gun – Indonesian six-barrel rotary machine gun
  • EX-17 Heligun – Two-barrel 7.62 mm calibre machine gun
  • Hua Qing Minigun
     – Chinese Gatling-type machine gun

References

Notes

  1. ^ "M134 Minigun fun in Afghanistan". 30 March 2014. Archived from the original on 4 November 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2017 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ "Dillon Aero M134D Minigun Weapon System" (Press Video). Shooting Resources. Archived from the original on November 13, 2021.
  3. ^ "U.S. Patent 502185 Gatling Gun". Retrieved February 4, 2010.
  4. .
  5. ^ a b Weyl, A. R. (8 March 1957). "Motor-guns—a Flashback to 1914-18". Flight. 71 (2511): 313–314. Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  6. ^ Williams, Anthony G. (8 November 2005). "Split Breech Guns: The Nutcracker and the 40mm Mk 18". Archived from the original on 14 June 2007.
  7. .
  8. ^ a b Jarvis, John Paul. "Brought to You By GE: The M134 Minigun". Archived from the original on 2012-02-19. Retrieved 2017-09-01.
  9. ^ a b c d e Gourley, Scott W. (30 May 2013). "The Evolution of the M134D Minigun". Defense Media Network. Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  10. ^ Experience of Marine Corps Light Attack H-1 Squadrons
  11. ^ "Hybrid M134D-H: M134 Gun Systems". Dillon Aero. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  12. ^ a b "Garwood Industries M134G Minigun". The Bang Switch. 7 June 2013. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  13. ^ "M134G Gun Control Unit". Garwood Industries. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  14. ^ Harp, Seth. "Arming the Cartels: The Inside Story of a Texas Gun-Smuggling Ring". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  15. ^ "Austin Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Firearms Smuggling Scheme". justice.gov. United States Department of justice. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  16. ^ United States, 1969. p. D-37-8
  17. ^ United States, 1969. p. B-2.
  18. ^ United States, 1969. p. C-31.
  19. ^ "Standard M134D". Dillon Aero. 2015. Archived from the original on 29 September 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  20. ^ "Garwood Industries M134G Minigun". Garwood Industries. 2013. Archived from the original on 7 November 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  21. ^ a b Jane's, 1986. pp. 453–4
  22. ^ Gunston, 1988. pp. 188–9.
  23. ^ "U.S. Army Helicopter Weapons". U.S. Army TACOM-RI. 24 February 2006. Archived from the original on 4 February 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2008.
  24. ^ .
  25. ^ DiGiulian, Tony (30 October 2006). "USA 0.30 caliber (7.62 mm) Minigun". NavWeaps.com. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 3 April 2008.
  26. ^ Parsch, Andreas (23 June 2006). "Designations Of U.S. Aeronautical and Support Equipment". Designation-Systems.net. Archived from the original on 3 March 2008. Retrieved 3 April 2008.
  27. ^ "Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Budget Estimates Weapons Procurement, Navy" (PDF). Secretary of the Navy. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  28. ^ Trevithick, Joseph (November 25, 2014). "The Minigun's Smaller Cousin Was a Flop". War Is Boring. Medium.
  29. ^ United States, 1969, p. G-1-3
  30. ^ Ballad, 1982. p. 57
  31. ^ Ballad, 1982. pp. 77, 251
  32. ^ Davis, 1982, p. 62
  33. ^ "You Call That High Capacity?". Thefirearmblog.com. 11 September 2013. Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  34. ^ United States, 1969. p. G-1
  35. ^ United States, 1969. p. G-3
  36. ^ "Deck Mount" (PDF). Dillon Aero. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  37. ^ Hatch II, William D.; Miller, Gregory (31 January 2007). "Unmanned Vehicles Systems; Unmanned Vehicle Tactical Memorandum (TM 3-22-5-SW): Report of Findings and Recommendation" (PDF). Defense Technical Information Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  38. ^ "Albania Bought The CH-47 Chinook. The helicopter Used In the Iraq and Kosovo wars". YouTube. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  39. ^ "RAL 7013 - Bell OH-58B Kiowa". doppeladler.com (in German). Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  40. ^ Kammonen, Teemu (3 August 2012). "Puolustusvoimien uusi ase: M134D "Minigun"". Uusi Suomi (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  41. ^ "Armament of the Georgian Army". geo-army.ge. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  42. ^ "Der kleine Giftzwerg kann auch anders". Luftwaffe (German Air Force) (in German). 11 April 2018. Archived from the original on 1 August 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  43. ^ "En Enero el Ejercito Mexicano recibira 400 full Kits M-134 minigun para Hummvees y Cheyenne" (in Spanish). Todopormexico.foroactivo.com.mx. December 21, 2010. Archived from the original on August 16, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
  44. ^ "Perú inspecciona las ametralladoras M-134D adquiridas a Dillon Aero". Infodefensa.com (in Spanish). 25 April 2014. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  45. ^ "Miniguny w końcu kupione". Altair Agencja Lotnicza (in Polish). 11 January 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  46. Försvarets Materielverk
    . 23 May 2023. Retrieved 25 May 2023.

Sources

External links