A Royal Air Force Chinook from RAF Odiham has participated in live firing training exercises at a range in Lincolnshire.
Throughout the exercise, the Chinooks fired twin M134 Miniguns and single M60D General Purpose Machine guns at a combination of beached vessels and specially designed targets.
The firing activities were carried out by Weapons System Operators on board, who must undergo this training periodically to maintain their proficiency.
The training encompasses responding to threats, such as returning fire when the aircraft is taking off or landing.
After the daytime exercises, the aircraft landed at RAF Coningsby for refuelling and ammunition replenishment. Subsequently, the same training was conducted at night, with the crew utilising night vision goggles.
Nighttime firing presents unique difficulties, especially in the absence of moonlight. When operating over the sea at an altitude of 200 feet on a dark night, the crew has limited external reference points to gauge their height or attitude.
You can read more on this from the Royal Air Force here.
Are they using rubber bullets? 😂
Ian wrote:
“”Are they using rubber bullets?””
I dont think so, as that would have entailed employing Sergeant Baker and his men
😆
Why do they use M60s and not Gimpys?
They are the same thing
Not the last time I used them! You might be thinking of the M240 which is similar to the GPMG.
The M60 was the previous squad macnine gun used by American troops, replaced largely by the M240 which is an American FN GPMG licensed copy.
The M60 comes with the Chinook, part of the package.
I’d have gone for the heated and cooled seats, dual zone air con and would have not ticked the helicopter ejector seat option.🧐
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Because it was cheaper to use the mounts already available for the m60 instead of making a gpmg mount though the m60 had to be then brought and individually purchased and they are very problematic compared to the gpmg
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There’s a reason why the ‘Murcans called it “the pig!”.I thought they had seen sense and converted to the Gimpy🤔
Time to let Old Painless out of the bag
When using a high bit rate in the ammo belt/feed, i.e. 1 tracer per 5 rounds or less. Due to the high rate of fire at 4000 rounds per minute (66.67 per second). You will get a near line of light hitting the target. When fired at night you get these images, you don’t really need a long exposure to capture them either. Even during the daytime, the tracer allows you to easily walk the shot area onto the target without the need for the sight.
Just to let everyone know there’s only a few ranges in the UK that are authorised for the M134. The above image shows why.
Do have one of many funny stories (sort of!) in regards to the minigun being used in Afghan. As part of a stop and detain team, waiting for some trucks to cross the border from Pakistan to Afghan. We had intel on what the trucks were carrying. A pair of Chinooks were sent up to stop the vehicles and we would then pile out and detain the drivers etcs.
However, the lead Chinook opened up with its M134, creating a wall of fire in front of the lead truck. Most people would naturally stop, but this driver did not! The truck went straight through the stream. It then vaporised, as the rounds hit the load bed of the truck. The second truck stopped and we did our thing. Searching for the wreckage, we managed to find some axles, tyres and the engine, that was it. Judging by the second truck, we reckon it was carrying around 10,000kg of plastic explosive, mines and other ordinance.
“we reckon it was carrying around 10,000kg of plastic explosive, mines and other ordinance.”
That’s what I call a Big Bang Theory.