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M163
The M163 Vulcan Air Defense System (VADS), officially Gun, Air Defense Artillery, Self-Propelled 20-mm, M163, is a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) primarily used by the United States Army. The M163 provides mobile, short-range air defense protection for ground units against low-flying fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. It replaced the M42 Duster as the standard American armored light air-defense gun. Specifications The M163 VADS uses the M168 gun, a variant of the General Dynamics M61A1 rotary cannon, the standard cannon in most U.S. combat aircraft since the 1960s. The gun is mounted on a modified M113A1 vehicle (the M741 carrier). Designed to complement the M48 Chaparral missile system, it is limited to fair-weather operations. The M163 uses a small range-only AN/VPS-2 radar and an M61 optical lead-calculating sight, and is incapable of using the radar to scan an area for targets. The system is suitable for night operations with the use of AN/PVS series night visi ...
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M61 Vulcan
The M61 Vulcan is a Hydraulic machinery, hydraulically, electrically, or pneumatics, pneumatically driven, six-Gun barrel, barrel, air-cooled, electrically fired Gatling gun, Gatling-style rotary cannon which fires 20 mm caliber, rounds at an extremely high rate (typically 6,000 rounds per minute). The M61 and its derivatives have been the principal cannon armament of United States Armed Forces, United States military fixed-wing aircraft for over sixty years. The M61 was originally produced by General Electric. After several mergers and acquisitions, it is produced by General Dynamics . It is also manufactured under license in Japan by Sumitomo Heavy Industries for Japan's Japan Self-Defense Force, Self-Defense Force and by SNT Dynamics in South Korea. Multiple-barrel firearms Development At the end of World War II, the United States Army Air Forces began to consider new directions for future military aircraft guns. The higher speeds of jet engine, jet-powered fighter aircraft ...
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M113 Armored Personnel Carrier
The M113 is a fully tracked armored personnel carrier (APC) that was developed and produced by the FMC Corporation. The M113 was sent to United States Army Europe in 1961 to replace the mechanized infantry's M59 armored personnel carrier, M59 APCs. The M113 was first used in combat in April 1962 after the United States provided the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, South Vietnamese army (ARVN) with heavy weaponry such as the M113, under the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) program. Eventually, the M113 was the most widely used armored vehicle of the U.S. Army in the Vietnam War and was used to break through heavy thickets in the midst of the jungle to attack and overrun enemy positions. It was largely known as an "APC" or an "ACAV" (armored cavalry assault vehicle) by the allied forces. The M113 was the first aluminum hull combat vehicle to be put into mass production. Much lighter than earlier similar vehicles, its aluminum armor was designed to be thick enough to pro ...
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Self-propelled Anti-aircraft Gun
An anti-aircraft vehicle, also known as a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) or self-propelled air defense system (SPAD), is a mobile vehicle with a dedicated anti-aircraft capability. Specific weapon systems used include machine guns, autocannons, larger guns, or surface-to-air missiles, and some mount both guns and longer-ranged missiles (e.g. the Pantsir missile system). Platforms used include both trucks and heavier combat vehicles such as armoured personnel carriers and tanks, which add protection from aircraft, artillery, and small arms fire for front line deployment. Anti-aircraft guns are usually mounted in a quickly-traversing turret with a high rate of elevation, for tracking fast-moving aircraft. They are often in dual or quadruple mounts, allowing a high rate of fire. In addition, most anti-aircraft guns can be used in a direct-fire role against surface targets to great effect. Today, surface-to-air missiles (generally mounted on similar turrets) have largel ...
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MIM-72 Chaparral
The MIM-72A/M48 Chaparral is an American-made self-propelled surface-to-air missile system based on the AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile system. The launcher is based on the M113 family of vehicles. It entered service with the United States Army in 1969 and was phased out between 1990 and 1998. It was intended to be used along with the M163 VADS, the Vulcan ADS covering short-range short-time engagements, and the Chaparral for longer range use. Development Mauler Starting in 1959 the U.S. Army MICOM (Missile Command) began development of an ambitious anti-aircraft missile system under their "Forward Area Air Defense" (FAAD) program. Known as the MIM-46 Mauler, it was based on a modified M113 chassis carrying a large rotating A-frame rack on top with nine missiles and both long-range search and shorter-range tracking radars. Operation was to be almost entirely automatic, with the operators simply selecting targets from the search radar's display and then pressing "fire". The e ...
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Self-propelled Anti-aircraft Gun
An anti-aircraft vehicle, also known as a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) or self-propelled air defense system (SPAD), is a mobile vehicle with a dedicated anti-aircraft capability. Specific weapon systems used include machine guns, autocannons, larger guns, or surface-to-air missiles, and some mount both guns and longer-ranged missiles (e.g. the Pantsir missile system). Platforms used include both trucks and heavier combat vehicles such as armoured personnel carriers and tanks, which add protection from aircraft, artillery, and small arms fire for front line deployment. Anti-aircraft guns are usually mounted in a quickly-traversing turret with a high rate of elevation, for tracking fast-moving aircraft. They are often in dual or quadruple mounts, allowing a high rate of fire. In addition, most anti-aircraft guns can be used in a direct-fire role against surface targets to great effect. Today, surface-to-air missiles (generally mounted on similar turrets) have largel ...
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Fort Irwin National Training Center
Fort Irwin National Training Center (Fort Irwin NTC) is a major training area for the United States military in the Mojave Desert in northern San Bernardino County, California. Fort Irwin is at an average elevation of . It is located northeast of Barstow, California, Barstow, in the Calico Mountains (California), Calico Mountains. The National Training Center is part of the IMCOM, US Army Forces Command (FORSCOM). The opposing force at the National Training Center is the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, the Blackhorse Cavalry, who are stationed at the base to provide an opposing force to units on a training rotation at Fort Irwin. In September 2017, a state-of-the-art hospital was opened that provides healthcare services to the Fort Irwin beneficiaries. Fort Irwin works within the R-2502 Special Use Airspace Complex. History The Fort Irwin area has a history dating back almost 15,000 years, when Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans of the Lake Mojave Period we ...
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Rotary Cannon
A rotary cannon, rotary autocannon, rotary gun or Gatling cannon, is any large-caliber multiple-barreled automatic firearm that uses a Gatling-type rotating barrel assembly to deliver a sustained saturational direct fire at much greater rates of fire than single-barreled autocannons of the same caliber. The loading, firing and ejection functions are performed simultaneously in different barrels as the whole assembly rotates, and the rotation also permits the barrels some time to cool. Rotary cannons, external or self-driven are used in aircraft over reciprocating bolt autocannons which are more prone to jamming in high g environments. The rotating barrels on nearly all modern Gatling-type guns are powered by an external force such as an electric motor, although internally powered gas-operated versions have also been developed. The cyclic multi-barrel design synchronizes the firing/reloading sequence. Each barrel fires a single cartridge when it reaches a certain position ...
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M42 Duster
The M42 40 mm self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, or "Duster," is an American armored light air-defense gun built for the United States Army from 1952 until December 1960, in service until 1988. Production of this vehicle was performed by the tank division of the General Motors Corporation. It used components from the M41 light tank and was constructed of all-welded steel. A total of 3,700 M42s were built. The vehicle has a crew of six and weighs 22,500 kg (49,500 lb) fully loaded. Maximum speed is with a range of 100 miles (160 km). Armament consists of fully automatic twin 40 mm M2A1 Bofors, with a rate of fire of 2×120 rounds per minute (rpm) enabling nearly 85 seconds of fire time before running out of ammo, and either a .30 caliber Browning M1919A4 or 7.62mm M60 machine gun. The 500 hp, six-cylinder, Continental (or Lycoming Engines), air-cooled, gasoline engine is located in the rear of the vehicle. It was driven by a cross-drive, two-speed Allis ...
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Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes allow helicopters to be used in congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft and many forms of short take-off and landing (STOL) or short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft cannot perform without a runway. The Focke-Wulf Fw 61 was the first successful, practical, and fully controllable helicopter in 1936, while in 1942, the Sikorsky R-4 became the first helicopter to reach full-scale mass production, production. Starting in 1939 and through 1943, Igor Sikorsky worked on the development of the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300, VS-300, which over four iterations, became the basis for modern helicopters with a single main rotor and a single tail rotor. Although most earlier ...
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Fixed-wing Aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using aerodynamic lift. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft (in which a rotor mounted on a spinning shaft generates lift), and ornithopters (in which the wings oscillate to generate lift). The wings of a fixed-wing aircraft are not necessarily rigid; kites, hang gliders, variable-sweep wing aircraft, and airplanes that use wing morphing are all classified as fixed wing. Gliding fixed-wing aircraft, including free-flying gliders and tethered kites, can use moving air to gain altitude. Powered fixed-wing aircraft (airplanes) that gain forward thrust from an engine include powered paragliders, powered hang gliders and ground effect vehicles. Most fixed-wing aircraft are operated by a pilot, but some are unmanned or controlled remotely or are completely autonomous (no remote pilot). History Kites Kites were used approximately 2,800 years ago ...
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United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United States Constitution (1789).See alsTitle 10, Subtitle B, Chapter 301, Section 3001 It operates under the authority, direction, and control of the United States Secretary of Defense, United States secretary of defense. It is one of the six armed forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. The Army is the most senior branch in order of precedence amongst the armed services. It has its roots in the Continental Army, formed on 14 June 1775 to fight against the British for independence during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784 to replace the disbanded Continental Army.Library of CongressJournals ...
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