GAU-19

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GAU-19/A
Type	Heavy machine gun
Place of origin	United States
Service history
Used by	See History
Production history
Designer	General Electric
Manufacturer	General Dynamics
Produced	1983–present
Variants	3-barrel or 6-barrel
Specifications
Weight	With feeder and transfer unit:139 lbs. (63 kg)
Length	53.9 in. (1,369 mm)
Barrel length	36 in. (914 mm)
Width	13.5 in. (343 mm)
Height	15 in. (381 mm)

Cartridge	.50 BMG
Action	Electric
Rate of fire	1,000 or 2,000 rounds per minute
Muzzle velocity	2,910 fps (887 m/s)
Effective range	1,800 m
Maximum range	6,000 m
Feed system	linkless or M9 linked belt

The GECAL 50, officially designated by the United States military as the GAU-19/A, is an electrically-driven Gatling gun that fires the .50 BMG (12.7x99mm) cartridge. Due to its weight and size, it is not a field-portable weapons system, but it is often installed on helicopters, ground vehicles, and water vessels.

1 Technical Specifications
2 History
3 Users
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Technical Specifications

The GAU-19/A is designed for a linkless feed, but can be fed from a standard M9 linked belt if a delinker feeder is used. The rate of fire is selectable to be either 1,000 or 2,000 rounds per minute. The HMMWV armament kit version fires at 1,300 rounds per minute. [1] The average recoil force when firing is 500 lbs.

[edit] History

The GECAL 50 was first manufactured by General Electric, then by Lockheed-Martin, and now by General Dynamics. Earlier versions had six barrels, but three barrels is now standard.

The GAU-19/A was originally designed as a potential armament for the V-22 Osprey.[2] The magazine would be located underneath the cabin floor and could be reloaded in-flight. However, the project has been canceled.^{[citation needed]} In 1999, the United States sent 28 GAU-19s to Colombia. [3] Oman is known to use the GAU-19/A mounted on their HMMWVs. In 2005, the GAU-19/A was approved to be mounted on the OH-58D Kiowa helicopter.[4]