Minigun

Lore & Background

The ancestor to the modern minigun was the hand-cranked mechanical Gatling gun invented in the 1860s by Richard Jordan Gatling. He later replaced the hand-cranked mechanism with an electric motor. In the 1960s, the United States Armed Forces began exploring modern variants of electrically powered, rotating barrel Gatling-style weapons for use in the Vietnam War. General Electric designers scaled down the rotary-barrel 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon for 7.62×51mm NATO ammunition, resulting in the M134 Minigun. The Minigun was mounted on various helicopters and aircraft for close air support.

Reader's Guide

The Minigun is a six-barrel, air-cooled, electrically driven rotary machine gun. It has a variable rate of fire, specified to fire at rates of up to 6,000 rpm, with most applications set at rates between 3,000 and 4,000 rounds per minute. Versions are designated M134 and XM196 by the U.S. Army, and GAU-2/A and GAU-17/A by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. Later variants include the Dillon Aero M134D, M134D-T, M134D-H, and the Garwood Industries M134G.

Did You Know?

• The 'Mini' in the name is in comparison to larger-caliber designs such as the 20 mm M61 Vulcan.
• Dillon Aero improved the Minigun design starting around 1990, leading to the M134D certified in 2003.
• Garwood Industries created the M134G version with an optimum rate of fire around 3,200 rounds per minute.