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Guns
About the only wpn which has remained, essentially, the same is the abn gun,
which reigned supreme as the principal ftr wpn until the mid-1950s, when the first
air-to-air msls (AAMs) entered service. Such were the advances that by the mid-
1960s, several major nations had entirely abandoned the abn gun in air def acft. Yet
from the reality of modern air cbt in the late-1960s, the lessons of history were re-
learnt and guns rapidly re-introduced. The resurgence was led by General Electric's
20 mm M61 Vulcan rotary cannon. This wpn was rapidly integrated on board a
Phantom and has been on virtually every major US ftr since. Of course, the M61 is
not the only GE product. The company produces a wide range of abn wpns varying
from 30 mm down to 7.62 mm with the rate of fire from 300 up to 6000 rd/min that
can be selected by the gnr.
Lighter wpns
, including
pintle-
and
pod-mounted machine guns
, are used on
hels. They can also be installed in chin turrets and are available in single- to six-
barrel forms.
Fixed-wing acft can carry heavier cannon than the average hel, but firing
opportunities are generally restricted in duration. Number of barrels is usually from
five to seven.
Short-Range AAMs
Defending battlefield hels are variants of man-portable air def sys
(MANPADS) msls. First in the field was the General Dynamics FIM-92 in a version
known as Air-to-Air Stinger (ATAS). Undoubtedly the classic 'dogfight' AAM must
be the AIM-9 Sidewinder series.
Beyond Visual Range AAMs
The AIM-7 Sparrow series has been the classic 'yardstick' in the medium-
range, beyond visual range (BVR) category. The US follow-up to Sparrow is the
AIM-120 AMRAAM which is a true 'fire-and-forget' msl.
Bombs
The original element of air-to-gnd weaponry is the bomb and it still remains so
albeit with a little more sophistication. One often hears talks of
'iron'
or
'dumb
'
bombs and these refer to
conventional high-explosive
(HE) bombs released and
aimed in the traditional way.
In essence, bombs remain unchanged from 50 years ago and older stocks may
well find themselves updated for the 2000s with a new fusing sys. They are
classified
according to
filler
as nuc, TN, HE, FAE, fire, drill, practice, and chemical. HE
bombs, in turn, are classed according to use as SAP, GP, low-drag GP, frag, and AD.
Bombs are carried by
racks
or
shackles
in the acft's bomb bay, or as
external
stores
at
stations
under the wing or fus and can be
released
singly or in pairs in
preselected intervals, or in
train
or
salvo
.
