Bushmaster?

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Doesn't look like "our" Bushmaster

Naval version of Army "chain gun", developed by Hughes. Link on the Bushmaster II naval gun page is to Boeing.

Use the Warships search feature - for some reason the URL doesn't update from the home page when viewing the Bushmaster pages.
 
I think this is a case of just a name a product coincidentally being the same as a company name. Much like Ford's Taurus family sedan and Taurus the gun manufacturer.
 
It is also the main gun in the m2 and m3 bradley fighting vehicles (current apc's) They are fun to fire and have quite the range with depleated uranium (about 5 clicks with standard ammo). It is dual fed with 2 belts going into the m242 cannon. One would usually carry HE and the other AP. I am not certain on the naval versions they may only need a single feed for ap. I can't see ground burst he doing much good from a ship.
 
from the photos it looks like they're using it (on ships) primarily as a point defense weapons system. Most of the mounts seem capable of being elevated to engage low flying aircraft as well as having the capacity to be depressed sufficiently to engage small craft at fairly close range. Betcha some of those mounts are a response to the USS Cole incident.
 
Those 25mm mounts are for small craft only, with helicopters a close second. Modern aircraft move to fast for the mount, and I wouldn't trust a human to engage a target moving that fast to begin with.
 
The M2 and M3 use the 25mm version, the Navy uses the 30mm version.

Also: 'The system [30mm Naval gun] uses a forward looking infrared sensor, a low light television camera, and laser range finder with a closed-loop tracking system to optimize accuracy against small, high-speed surface targets'. I bet Skunk doesnt have half of that stuff mounted on his M4 or Benelli. :neener:

Kharn
 
The Bushmaster is manufactured by McDonald Douglas, the brainchild of Leonard Price.

I gleaned this knowlege from the DVD; Machine Gun Magic sold by Dillon Precision. Mike Dillon owns a chain gun and does an interview at McDonald Douglas about chain guns.
 
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