The Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-30 ( Russian: Грязев-Шипунов ГШ-6-30) is a Russian 30 mm rotary cannon aircraft-mounted and naval

autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a automatic firearm, fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary ammunition, incendiary shell (projectile), shells, ...

used by

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and later CIS

military aircraft A military aircraft is any Fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing or rotorcraft, rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary military of any type. Some military aircraft engage directly in aerial warfare, while others take on su ...

. The GSh-6-30 fires a 30×165mm, projectile.

Description

The GSh-6-30, designed in the early 1970s and entering service in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, has a six barrel design that is similar to the

Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-23 The Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-23 () (GRAU designation: 9A-620 for GSh-6-23, 9A-768 for GSh-6-23M modernized variant) is a six-barreled 23 mm rotary cannon used by some modern Soviet/Russian military aircraft. The GSh-6-23 differs from most Ame ...

. It was based on the naval AO-18 used in the

AK-630 The AK-630 is a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian fully automatic naval, rotary cannon, close-in weapon system. The "630" designation refers to the weapon's six gun barrels and their 30 mm caliber. The system is mounted in an enclosed automatic ...

system. Unlike most modern rotary cannons, it is gas-operated rather than hydraulically driven, allowing it to "spin up" to maximum rate of fire more quickly, allowing more rounds to be placed on target in a short-duration burst. This makes the weapon advantageous in dogfights, where pilots often have a very small window for engaging the enemy. Ignition is electrical, as with the smaller GSh-6-23. On the MiG-27 "Flogger" the GSh-6-30 had to be mounted obliquely to absorb

recoil Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, for according to Newton's third law the force requ ...

. The gun was noted for its high (often uncomfortable) vibration and extreme noise. The airframe vibration led to fatigue cracks in fuel tanks, numerous radio and avionics failures, the necessity of using runways with floodlights for night flights (as the landing lights would often be destroyed), tearing or jamming of the forward landing gear doors (leading to at least three crash landings), cracking of the reflector gunsight, an accidental jettisoning of the cockpit canopy and at least one case of the instrument panel falling off in flight. The weapons also dealt extensive collateral damage, as the sheer numbers of fragments from detonating shells was sufficient to damage aircraft flying within a 200-meter radius from the impact center, including the aircraft firing. The principal application for the GSh-6-30 is the MiG-27, which carries the weapon in a gondola under the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

, primarily for strafing and ground attack. It was fitted to some Su-25TM aircraft, but subsequently replaced with the GSh-30-2 twin-barreled

of the original Su-25. It is also used as the gun component of the CADS-N-1 Kashtan close-in weapon system.

Variants

*GSh-6-30M; *AO-18L; version used by ABM-BCM30 remote weapon station. *GSh-6-30K; Naval variant of GSh-6-30, also known as AO-18 used in

CIWS system. *AO-18K; Modernized AO-18 used by Kashtan CIWS. *AO-18KD; Further improved AO-18K with a higher rate of fire and extended range used in

M2, Palma/Palash and Pantsir-M CIWS systems.

Users

* * * * *

Former user

References

General references

External links

Russian Ammo Page - with more detail
{{Modern Gatling Guns 30 mm artillery Aircraft guns of the Soviet Union Aircraft guns Multi-barrel machine guns Rotary cannon KBP Instrument Design Bureau products Military equipment introduced in the 1970s