Chain gun looked at as possible .50 cal replacement

[unhappycamper]

Chain gun looked at as possible .50 cal replacement
By Kris Osborn
Posted: 10/09/07 17:50

AUSA 2007, WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Army weapons developers at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., and European manufacturers such as Sweden-based Bofors are eyeing ATK’s Lightweight 25mm (LW25) Bushmaster chain gun, a high-tech, high-speed next-generation weapon able to fire up to seven times as many rounds between jams as the ubiquitous .50-caliber machine gun, ATK officials say.

Beginning 18-months ago, Minnesota-based ATK began developing the 63-pound chain gun to meet an emerging need, ATK officials said.
“As the Army started evolving toward wanting more lethality in their smaller vehicles and wanting remote weapons stations on their smaller vehicles, we saw that as a market niche and developed the weapon,” said Jim Cates, ATK’s vice president of medium caliber systems.

Once additional test firing is completed for system qualification, the LW 25 will be ready for production in about a year and a half, Cates said.

Designed as a possible replacement for the .50 caliber and the Mk 19 40mm grenade launcher; the LW 25 is configured to fire from rapidly increasing remote weapons stations used by soldiers in hostile areas to shoot targets from inside a combat vehicle. A computer screen showing the surrounding terrain displays the target areas to soldiers who use a joystick to zero in on enemy targets and fire the gun mounted on the roof of the vehicle.

“You are seeing the Army evolve as a result of the conflict in Iraq which includes the need for more remote weapons stations so people can fire their weapons under armor as opposed to standing outside the vehicle. The advantage to our guns is they are inherently remotely operable. They’re electrically driven. They are not gas-operated cannons, so they are already remotely operable,” said Cates.

Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/ausa/story.php?F=3098546



uhc comment: You can see the wonderful toys the military-industrial-complex is developing here.

[Islander Expat]

1. Its so fucking dangerous over there gunners can't even risk exposure to fire their weapons?

Or has the "front sight on target" school of thought been abandoned in favor of incredibly wasteful "hosing down" technique?

Hope they got plenty of ammo.