4 x 30mm ADEN vs Avenger cannon.... ?

SplitRz · Saturday at 5:29 PM

An object I stumbled over at my local (and very excellent) aviation museum, the BDAC Museum near Old Sarum, UK. Its the 'quick replacement' sliding gun-pack as fitted to the Hawker Hunter.

Its reminded me that I've heard it said that this was one of the heaviest and most compact gun armaments fitted to a fighter - and rivals the firepower of the A10. But it caused a bit of a beard stroking moment for me. Can that really be the (spent shell) case?

This four pack is CLEARLY a much smaller, more compact and lighter installation than the enormous Avenger system. Anyone here with the gun smarts to say how the two compare? (I suspect propellant/shell case may be significantly different in size?)

GTX · Saturday at 5:43 PM

4 x ADEN in Hawker Hunter has a theoretical weight of fire of 1320 kg/min
1 GAU-8 in an A-10 has a theoretical weight of fire of 1540.5 kg/min

Therefore the A-10 would have the greater theoretical performance in terms of weight of fire. I emphasise theoretical though since neither could carry that much not fire it in a single minute.

SplitRz · Saturday at 5:49 PM

GTX said:
4 x ADEN in Hawker Hunter has a theoretical weight of fire of 1320 kg/min
1 GAU-8 in an A-10 has a theoretical weight of fire of 1540.5 kg/min

Therefore the A-10 would have the greater theoretical performance in terms of weight of fire. I emphasise theoretical though since either could carry that much not fire it in a single minute.

Thats a lot closer than I would have imagined!

SplitRz · Saturday at 5:51 PM

GTX said:
4 x ADEN in Hawker Hunter has a theoretical weight of fire of 1320 kg/min
1 GAU-8 in an A-10 has a theoretical weight of fire of 1540.5 kg/min

Therefore the A-10 would have the greater theoretical performance in terms of weight of fire. I emphasise theoretical though since either could carry that much not fire it in a single minute.

I also wonder what the unit/installation weight comparison might be. The Avenger looks enormous!

GTX · Saturday at 6:05 PM

The GAU-8 itself weighs 280 kg, but the complete weapon, with feed system and drum, weighs 1,828 kg,with a maximum ammunition load. It measures 5.931 m from the muzzle to the rearmost point of the ammunition system, and the ammunition drum alone is 88 cm in diameter and 1.82 m long.

I am not sure of the exact total weight/dimensions of the Hawker hunter gunpack but I believe it would be in the vicinity of 800kg with ammunition and be about 1.6m long.

Therefore the ADEN gunpack wins out in terms of weight and compactness.

Shortround6 · Saturday at 7:20 PM

The Aden will normally deliver a lot more HE. A lot depends on the mix of ammo but the A-10 often carries a high ratio of AP ammo.
Ammo for the Aden varies a lot but the basic HE for the British was built like the German Mine shell and can carry about 10-15% more HE than the GUA-8 shell despite being much lighter. There are 'normal' HE shells for the Aden that only carry 65% of the HE of the GUA-8 and depending on how much AP is mixed in the load?

Normal use of the GUA-8 calls for 2 second burst. GUA-8 takes 0.55 seconds to reach full rate of fire so...................... Bar bet lawyers can have a field day.

Dric · Monday at 2:45 AM

The ammunition supply is also different.
4x130 rounds for the Hunter and 1350 rounds for the A-10. Even if the quantity carried on a mission is limited, the bulk of the gun pack, designed for such capacities, remains.

z42 · Monday at 12:07 PM

While both are 30mm, the GAU-8 has a lot more oomph behind each shell. Compare the cartridge size, for Aden 30x113mm vs 30x173mm for the GAU-8. Resulting in muzzle velocities of 790 vs 1010 m/s.

GreenKnight121 · Wednesday at 5:23 AM

z42 said:
While both are 30mm, the GAU-8 has a lot more oomph behind each shell. Compare the cartridge size, for Aden 30x113mm vs 30x173mm for the GAU-8. Resulting in muzzle velocities of 790 vs 1010 m/s.

Here:

Snautzer01 · Wednesday at 3:50 PM

GreenKnight121 said:
Here:

View attachment 790273

GTX · Wednesday at 4:06 PM

Snautzer01 said:
View attachment 790340

Well based upon that I would take the smaller one...

Snautzer01 · 2024-07-25T17:13:34-0400

GTX said:
Well based upon that I would take the smaller one...

Ahh yes

The far more expensive one.
Blows up for god knows what reason at least once a month.
Have to be given an awfull lot of attention.
If not, it will not work when required
It will always be on the look out for better frames.
When used it might cost you bundles of money to get that off cooker through college.
And forget about up-dating or changing all together. There will not be a 1.1 or 1.1.2.
You will not ever again sleep in your own hangar again if you tried.

But get your stuff together and you will feel god mode all the time while all enemies fall in waist on the machine gun tongue.

I made my choice long ago. I am sticking with it.

Thumpalumpacus · 2024-07-26T01:12:35-0400

Snautzer01 said:
View attachment 790340

I'd slap her around.

Snautzer01 · 2024-07-26T04:57:14-0400

I saw a guy slapping a woman once. Didnt end very well.

4 x 30mm ADEN vs Avenger cannon.... ?

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