M39 cannon

M39

M39 cannon in the nose of a Brazilian F-5.
Type Single-barrel Autocannon
Place of origin United States
Service history
In service 1952–present
Production history
Designer Ford Motor Company
Designed 1951
Manufacturer Pontiac, Ford, and others
Number built 35,500+
Variants M39, M39A1, M39A2, M39A3
Specifications
Weight 80.9 kg (178.5 lb)
Length 1.83 m
Caliber 20 mm (0.787 in) × 102 mm
Barrels Single barrel (progressive RH parabolic twist, 9 grooves)
Action five-chamber revolver
Rate of fire 1,500 rpm
Muzzle velocity 1,030 m/s (3,300 ft/s)
The M-39 cannon with its 20 mm ammunition linkfeed.

The M39 cannon was a 20 mm caliber single-barreled revolver cannon developed for the United States Air Force in the late 1940s. It was used on a number of fighter aircraft from the early 1950s through the 1980s.

Development

The M39 was developed by the Springfield Armory, based on the World War II–era design of the German Mauser MG 213, a 20 mm (and 30 mm) cannon developed for the Luftwaffe, which did not see combat use. The same design inspired the 30mm British ADEN cannon and the French DEFA, but American designers chose a smaller 20 mm round to increase the weapon's rate of fire and muzzle velocity at the expense of hitting power. The 20×102mm round was later chosen by France for the M621 cannon.[1]

Initially designated the T-160, the new gun was installed for combat testing on a number of F-86 Sabre aircraft under the "GunVal" program in late 1952, and used in action over Korea in early 1953. It was subsequently adopted as standard armament of the F-86H fighter-bomber, F-100 Super Sabre, F-101A and F-101C Voodoo, and the F-5 Freedom Fighter. Current models of the F-5 Tiger II still use the M39A2 version of this weapon. The M39A2 was introduced in 1964.[2]

In Vietnam in 1967 the 116th Assault Helicopter Company operating out of Củ Chi Base Camp used the M39 mounted inverted on the forward hardpoints on the underside of a UH-1 helicopter, with ammunition feed out the left cargo door through a chute. The unit's report for May through July 1967 states "A low-level type of attack has been used on bunker lines with a good deal of success. It consists of locating and pinpointing the target area, then turning out, dropping down to about 50 feet (at 120 knots) and when about 500 meters from the target, popping up to about 150 feet, turning hell, death and destruction onto the target, turning off, and being gone before Charlie recovers from the shock....It is most effective on huts or heavily wooded tree lines. A hut is almost totally destroyed, i.e., to the point of setting it on fire and reducing it to ashes, and a tree line is so effectively covered that many of the trees are defoliated or limbs, etc., blown off. In situations where the enemy is using less than bunker-type cover, the 20mm coverage is so effective that it is quite reasonable to assume that those individuals who were in the area are either dead or severely wounded."[3] As to the ammunition, the same unit report says, "The ammunition is M-56AZ high explosive incendiary #12 link. It weighs almost one pound per round and has a bursting radius of 9 meters. It is spin-actuated at about 50 meters. It detonates upon contact with anything."

The M39 served as the basis for the T75 autocannon developed by the Republic of China (Taiwan), as a more-powerful partial replacement for the M2HB machine gun onboard naval vessels and the HMMWV tactical vehicle, with its latest use being within the XTR-101 and XTR-102 weapon stations.

Projectile specifications

M56A3
:HE-I with a 10.7-gram RDX explosive charge and a 1.3-gram incendiary charge[4]
M242
HE-I-T
M53
AP-I steel tip has a 50% chance of penetrating 6.3 mm of RHA at a range of 1,000 meters and striking angle of 0°.[5]
M775
AP-I-T
M55A2
TP
M220
TP-T

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jane's Ammunition Handbook, Coulsdon: Jane's Information Group Ltd., 1993, p. 40.
  2. ↑ Jane's Air Launched Weapons, Coulsdon: Jane's Information Group Ltd., 2000, p. 602.
  3. ↑ http://www.vhpa.org/unit/269CABMay-Jul1967Part1.pdf
  4. ↑ "aircav.com - ammunition: 20mm". Retrieved 2011-07-11.
  5. ↑ "aircav.com - ammunition: 20mm". Retrieved 2011-07-11.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.