Dillon M134 Aero Minigun

[Army Chief]

OK, so to take this off of the deep end for a minute, I did a quick Google search and found some interesting pseudo-technical analysis on the feasibility of a man-portable minigun.

Not especially relevant, true, but we've seen this used to great effect in the movies (LOL), and for some odd reason, I found this an enjoyable read (note: this article refers to the XM214, rather than the M134, though the concept is the same) ....

Portable General Electric XM214 Minigun

The XM214 Automatic Gun (aka the Minigun) was developed for use mounted in and on helicopters and light aircraft. Like most G.E. Gatling gun type weapons it has six rotating barrels and the potential for a absolutely incredibly high rate of fire. It is electrically driven, and has a firing rate that can be adjusted from 1000 rpm all the way up to a unbelievable 10,000 rpm. In addition to that, it can be set to fire bursts from 30 to 1000 rounds. A real drawback to the higher rates of fire is off course the huge ammunition usage (166 shots per second) , and the power requirements, because firing it at full power it requires some 3.2 hp to drive the barrel assembly.

First seen in the movie "Predator" in 1987, the hand-held Minigun has captured the hearts and minds of He-Men everywhere, be it in games or in real life. The very image of Jesse Ventura as Blain, spraying bad guys with a veritable hail of bullets that issued forth from his Minigun Painless was so powerful that the weapon has been seen in both countless other movies and in games.

Even in real life the idea caught on surprisingly well. Apparently some of America`s Special Forces guys saw Predator and realized that a hand-held Minigun would be a great asset for clearing out landing zones real fast. Having ample access to the needed equipment, they started experimenting. And ran into some problems.

The first was that the Minigun weighed in at thirty pounds, which was heavy, but carriable. A backpack with a thousand rounds of ammunition and a linkless belt to the Minigun weighed in at another thirty-five pounds. Backpacks with two thousand rounds weighed in at sixty-five pounds, and were totally unrealistic in size. Just the gun and the ammo weighed in at sixty-five pounds.

The second was that in the movie, the power for the Minigun had been supplied by a pair of truck batteries through a cable that simply ran over the ground, and up into the Minigun. Since those batteries weighed some 30 pounds each, it was obvious that only one could be carried by one person (in addition to all the other equipment the soldier was to carry). Thus, the weapon could never be fired at its full rate of fire.

The third problem was that even at "only" a 1000 rpm rate of fire the gun produces about 11 kg of recoil continuously! And this amount of force increases geometrically in proportion to the rate of fire. Firing a large burst would result in the gunner being spun around by his own weapon, and spraying everything around him indiscriminately with bullets. Including his own comrades.....

After some experimenting it was thus realized that the gun would simply be too heavy and cumbersome to be ever used in real life combat, and the concept was abandoned. No army in the world has a hand-held Minigun in its arsenal.

The beauty, as always, is in the details: 166 rounds per second, 3.2 horsepower to drive the gun, 11kg of recoil force at low-rate -- great stuff. :)

Found HERE.

AC