A recent video showed it shooting down a moving drone easily. Accuracy is not one of the issues.
PLA Anti-Air Gun systems
- Thread starter MIGleader
- Start date
Gatling gun is typically used for last line defense against those missiles mentioned, not FPV drones
FPV drones in Ukraine and Russia are way overhyped. Most vehicles are knocked out by the "old-school" mines and artillery
They are also highly vulnerable to EW/Jamming
FPV drones in Ukraine and Russia are way overhyped. Most vehicles are knocked out by the "old-school" mines and artillery
They are also highly vulnerable to EW/Jamming
Ever tried to shoot a bird with a bullit? No! That's why spread of load is for. I remeber 20mm gatling on the old starfighters where rumored to have a 'shaker' on them because without, they would just fire a straight and narrow line of bullets. and you would want your shots to somewhat spread out at distance to garantee a hit even if your sight somewhat was off!
How much ammo can the vehicle carry is the critical issue. The more ammo capacity the better for it's mission and survival >12.7mm < Athough it still depends on the mission : anti-FPV drones or anti-missiles/bombs/conventional aircrafts
A 14.5mm gatling will only purely be for FPV anti drone at this rate in the current era which is extremely specific for something to mount on an AA vehicle as a primary weapon.
The 14.5 might not even be sufficient for C-RAM(which is probably the other most significant role the 625 also has to fulfill and why it mounted a Gatling gun instead) or anti-helicopter(even 35mm guns are struggling nowadays with the latest ATGMs) applications. For the C-RAM role the effective range of the gun becomes drastically shorter to the point that the window of opportunity for a full intercept becomes hairline and the missile would still fall near the target and damage it
Anyways the 625 level AA likely won't be anywhere near where FPVs are most heavily used (along and right behind the contact line) and a minigun solution here will most likely involve equipping a specific vehicle in a group of APCs with a bare basic search radar and EO/FLIR tracking
The 14.5 might not even be sufficient for C-RAM(which is probably the other most significant role the 625 also has to fulfill and why it mounted a Gatling gun instead) or anti-helicopter(even 35mm guns are struggling nowadays with the latest ATGMs) applications. For the C-RAM role the effective range of the gun becomes drastically shorter to the point that the window of opportunity for a full intercept becomes hairline and the missile would still fall near the target and damage it
Anyways the 625 level AA likely won't be anywhere near where FPVs are most heavily used (along and right behind the contact line) and a minigun solution here will most likely involve equipping a specific vehicle in a group of APCs with a bare basic search radar and EO/FLIR tracking
Is the Chinese Gatling an electric one? Those sometimes have variable fire rate. So you can basically fine tune the ammo spend.
But the thing with the Gatlings is that typically the more barrels you put in one the more top ammo consumption you can have.
The whole idea of the Gatling is to reduce the time to setup the gun to fire and increase the amount of time you have to cool the barrel in the first place.
But the thing with the Gatlings is that typically the more barrels you put in one the more top ammo consumption you can have.
The whole idea of the Gatling is to reduce the time to setup the gun to fire and increase the amount of time you have to cool the barrel in the first place.
Shilka uses 23mm for defending against low level targets.
NATO CIWS also uses 20mm which is similar to 14.5mm Russia (China).
China's 35mm/25mm SPAAG are assigned to intercept cruise missiles, bombs and conventional aircrafts.
NATO CIWS also uses 20mm which is similar to 14.5mm Russia (China).
China's 35mm/25mm SPAAG are assigned to intercept cruise missiles, bombs and conventional aircrafts.
So what is your point? Even in the current conflict Russia and Ukraine are not drifting towards 14.5 or 20mm for their anti FPV solutions and any drone bigger than FPVs are still tackled by their legacy Soviet 23mm guns or the 30mms on their Tunguska/Pantsir platforms. In fact the Russians are proposing to bring back their 57mms with airburst ammunition for drones while the West are looking to laser based solutions, so why should China go back to 20mm/14.5mm class solutions?
To save it's stocks of 25/30/35mm ammo against cruise missiles and bombs.