4 most powerful cannons on Russian fighter jets

GSh-30-1

The GSh-30-1 autocannon has been used on all Soviet and Russian fighters since the 1980s. "GSh" stands for the surnames of designers Vasiliy Gryazev and Arkadiy Georgiyevich Shipunov, "30" is the caliber in mm, while "1" is the number of barrels per gun assembly.

The GSh-30-1 uses a short-barrel recoil loading mechanism with hydraulic brakes, liquid evaporation cooling and electric ignition. This operating mechanism is different from many other contemporary aircraft guns, making the GSh-30-1 have a relatively slow rate of fire, but the weight is only 46 kg, much lighter than other gun models.

The designer equipped a special ignition mechanism to deal with the situation of a misfire. In that case, a hot electrode ignition needle will be launched through the shell, igniting all the gunpowder inside, pushing the bullet out of the barrel and continuing the normal operation of the gun. This feature makes the GSh-30-1 very unlikely to jam, increasing reliability in combat situations.

The GSh-30-1 model has a maximum rate of fire of 1,800 rounds/minute, but is usually limited to 1,500 rounds/minute to reduce barrel wear. However, the barrel has a relatively short life and is usually worn out after only 2,000 rounds. The gun has an effective range of about 800 m against air targets and a maximum of 1,800 m against ground targets.

When combined with the laser rangefinder and infrared tracking system on the fighter, this gun has very high accuracy. The 30x165 mm ammunition allows it to shoot down enemy aircraft with only 3-5 hits.

GSh-23

This is a 23mm twin-barrel automatic gun model, developed under the Soviet Union and put into service since 1965. The GSh-23 operates on the principle developed by German engineer Karl Gast in 1916. Firing one barrel will activate the firing mechanism in the other barrel, helping to increase the rate of fire and reduce wear compared to single-barrel guns.

This gun model does not need an external power source to fire like the American M61 Vulcan, but instead uses barrel recoil to continuously reload. The GSh-23 has a theoretical rate of fire of up to 3,600 rounds/minute, but the actual number is often limited to save ammunition and limit barrel wear.

The GSh-23 is renowned for its ruggedness, power and ease of maintenance on the battlefield. It is fitted to some variants of the MiG-21 and MiG-23 fighters, and the Tu-22 and Tu-95 bombers. In addition to firing explosive shells, the GSh-23 can also launch decoys to fool heat-seeking and radar-guided missiles.

GSh-6-30

This rotary gun model was designed in the early 1970s and put into service in 1975. The GSh-6-30 was developed from the AO-18 rotary gun platform of the AK-630 close-in defense system on warships.

Unlike the American M61 Vulcan, the GSh-6-30 does not rotate its barrel using hydraulics but uses compressed air, helping it reach its maximum rate of fire in a shorter time. This brings an advantage in air combat, when the pilot has very little time to fire at the target. The theoretical rate of fire of the GSh-6-30 is about 4,000-6,000 rounds/minute.

The GSh-6-30 is mainly mounted on the MiG-27 attack aircraft. However, the weakness of this gun is its excessive recoil. Although the designer had to mount the gun at an angle relative to the fuselage to reduce recoil, the GSh-6-30 was still considered too noisy and often vibrated strongly when fired, causing serious damage to the MiG-27's airframe such as cracking the fuel tank, damaging electronic and communication equipment.

Strong vibration of GSh-6-30also often broke the landing lights of MiG-27 attack aircraft, forcing them to operate at heavily lit airports at night.

This cannon was also responsible for jamming or tearing the MiG-27's landing gear doors, leading to at least three emergency landings, and even causing the cockpit canopy of a MiG-27 to blow off in flight.

The large amount of fragments in each round of the GSh-6-30 can also cause problems.Each 30x165mm shell can damage aircraft within a 200m radius of the explosion point, including the aircraft that fired the shells.

GSh-6-23

The GSh-6-23 can be considered a miniature version of the GSh-6-30, using 23x115 mm ammunition. This type of gun has a firing speed of 10,000 rounds/minute, considered the fastest firing gun in the world today. The GSh-6-23 is equipped for the MiG-27, MiG-31 and Su-24 lines.

The GSh-6-23 gun used a belt-fed mechanism for loading ammunition. However, later variants adopted a conveyor-fed mechanism, in which the ammunition was transported independently to the loading station. The gun could use fragmentation, incendiary, armor-piercing, and incendiary ammunition.

After two Su-24 attack aircraft crashed due to self-exploding ammunition in 1983, as well as a series of technical problems, the Soviet Air Force decided to stop using the GSh-6-23 cannon in combat. Currently, the Russian Su-24 and MiG-31 squadrons are still equipped with the GSh-6-23 cannon, but without ammunition.