Which they have in the waist gunner positions on the HH60 already, although they’re the older GE GAU-2s, not the newer Dillon M134Ds. This mod adds 20% firepower…mini gun is 6000rd/min and dual-M240 is 1200, total 7200 per side. Personally, I’d say add a second mini gun per side if you want statistically significantly more firepower. The dual 240 mount takes up much of the Hawk’s main cabin door…I don’t get it.
That it’s coming out of a single Wing and not AFSOC says a lot.
Which they have in the waist gunner positions on the HH60 already, although they’re the older GE GAU-2s, not the newer Dillon M134Ds. This mod adds 20% firepower…mini gun is 6000rd/min and dual-M240 is 1200, total 7200 per side. Personally, I’d say add a second mini gun per side if you want statistically significantly more firepower. The dual 240 mount takes up much of the Hawk’s main cabin door…I don’t get it.
View attachment 75113
It tends to be only slightly higher by the numbers, because a minigun can be burst fired more accurately with more throw-weight than trying to get a 240 zoned in and fired for long enough to put similar weight downrange. Typical 134 bursts are 1-2 seconds, not drawn out 4-5+ second bursts of a GPMG
The 85lb weight is including the external auxiliary power supply box (battery) to allow it to run with bird main power off (after a crash)
@Good2Golf covered the 7.62 issue already as both use the same ammo. Since the issues in early GWOT all SOCOM birds have now gone to both internal power and a spare battery box to allow for Minigun use after a main power loss/shutdown.
Using a 240H off the mouth is nearly impossible, you need to dismount the gun, and then spend about 5min swapping the dismount kit (buttstock, pistol grip, and bipod. Very few crew fly with those anyway.
Increased firepower provides unique capability for combat rescue
“This capability increases the lethality of the PRTF and improves point defense in forward operations and also increases the capacity for airbase ground defense in support of the projection of airwww.920rqw.afrc.af.mil
That's probably the look on some Commander's face that got the mod approved, despite the talk from @KevinB and @Good2Golf
Well, I’d trust the word of Hawk bubbas who have more than a few battle honors doing the business in some pretty unfriendly far away places, but if the Air Force wants to hard core Air Force, then who are we to dissuade them…
Floor in area to mount 2nd minigun not structurally suitable without skin off structural additions.Which they have in the waist gunner positions on the HH60 already, although they’re the older GE GAU-2s, not the newer Dillon M134Ds. This mod adds 20% firepower…mini gun is 6000rd/min and dual-M240 is 1200, total 7200 per side. Personally, I’d say add a second mini gun per side if you want statistically significantly more firepower. The dual 240 mount takes up much of the Hawk’s main cabin door…I don’t get it.
View attachment 75113
Precisely. Which leads me back to my original point…is the juice worth the squeeze? Possible? Yes. So for 20% more throw weight, you block large portion of the aft cabin? Is the Wing trying to create an ineffective pseudo version of the MH-60M DAP? Again, the fact this isn’t AFSOC doing HH-60 Pave Hawk fleet-wide tells me all I need to know.
If at best, 20% more 7.62 throw weight is what they get, I’d spend the cash on more JP-8 and trg ammo for the door gunners to make sure you’re maximizing their effectiveness with the existing mini-guns. Otherwise, it’s the good ideas fairies running amok.
