The M61 Vulcan is a 20mm hydraulically or pneumatically driven, six-barreled, air-cooled, electrically fired Gatling-style autocannon with an extremely high rate of fire. It has been the principal cannon armament of United States military aircraft for five decades. The M61 was originally produced by General Electric, and after several mergers and acquisitions is currently produced by General Dynamics.
Development
At the end of World War II, the United States Army began to consider new directions for future military aircraft guns. The higher speeds of jet-engined fighter aircraft meant that achieving an effective number of hits would be extremely difficult without a much higher volume of fire. While captured German designs (principally the Mauser MG213C) showed the potential of the single-barrel revolver cannon, the practical rate of fire of such a design was still limited by ammunition feed and barrel wear concerns. The Army wanted something better, combining extremely high rate of fire with exceptional reliability.
In response to this requirement, General Electric Armament Division resurrected an old idea: the multi-barrel Gatling gun. The original Gatling gun had fallen out of favor because of the need for an external power source to rotate the barrel assembly, but the new generation of turbojet-powered fighters offered sufficient electrical power to operate the gun, and electric operation offered superior reliability to a gas operated weapon. With multiple barrels, the rate of fire per barrel could be lower than a single-barrel revolver cannon while still giving a superior total rate of fire.
Usage
Peace Walker Incident
- Main article: Peace Walker Incident
Big Boss was the first to encounter these weapons, with the AI weapon Cocoon's fearsome battery of weapons including a half-dozen rotary cannons of around the correct scale to be Vulcans, though they were never named as such.
Shadow Moses Incident
- Main article: Shadow Moses Incident
During the Shadow Moses Incident, FOXHOUND member Vulcan Raven used the M61A1 as his weapon of choice, with a customized mounting that let him carry it as a personal weapon. The fact that he was capable of lifting the 248-pound gun, power supply, and heavy ammo drum was a testament to his incredible strength.[1]
Guns of the Patriots Incident
- See also: Liquid Sun, Solid Sun, Third Sun, Twin Suns, Old Sun, and Naked Sin/Naked Son
Vulcan cannons were mounted in Phalanx CIWS installations on the Missouri during the time of the Guns of the Patriots Incident, and were used along with her 5-inch / 38 caliber Mark 12 dual purpose guns to protect the aging battleship from a volley of Harpoon anti-ship missiles fired from Outer Haven.
Behind the scenes
Vulcan Raven's M61A1 appears in the original Metal Gear Solid. The name "Vulcan cannon" is often used as a generic term for rotary cannons throughout the Metal Gear series, including the armaments of TX-55 Metal Gear, Metal Gear D, Metal Gear REX, and the Hind D.
In Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, an anti-aircraft gun similar to the M61 Vulcan in design appears at the United States Naval Prison Facility in Cuba in both the main story and the side/extra ops, with the latter missions having them play a huge role in Destroy the Anti-Air Emplacements requiring at least three to be destroyed. However, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain reveals that these are in fact the M276 Anti-Air G-Gun, a fictional weapon.
References
- ^ Metal Gear Solid, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (1998).
Roy Campbell: That cannon he's holding is a 20 millimeter Vulcan gun. You usually see them mounted on fighter planes. You can't take him on in a fire fight. He'll make mincemeat of you. // Naomi Hunter: He's not just strong, Snake. He's a graduate emeritus from Alaska University, so he's a quick thinker, too. // Campbell: In any case, you'd better not try to attack him from the front. Normal weapons are no match for his 20 millimeter Vulcan. Try to attack him from the sides or behind.