Why does the Mi 24 cannon have so a low caliber?

[Incomplete Spork]

I just got to wondering, Why is the Mi 24 using a .50 caliber bullet instead of a 20 or 30mm?

I assume it was for weight limitation so it could transport troops better but would that weigh the chopper down that much more?

[[R-CON]ReadMenace]

Perhaps it is intended for use against infantry and light vehicles rather than armored vehicles, which it can engage with its other armaments.

-REad

[hiberNative]

bless the fixed 30mm cannon <3

[Solid Knight]

It's not a normal .50 cal though. It's much longer. It also has a high fire rate--something like that of a M137 (minigun). There are versions with a 30mm chin mounted and fix mounted cannon; both have high fire rates as well.

[Incomplete Spork]

I read that it started to get upgraded with a 23mm and a 30mm for killing targets not worth wasting rockets on

[[R-DEV]Eddie Baker]

Originally Posted by Solid Knight

It's not a normal .50 cal though. It's much longer.

Yes, it is a normal .50 caliber; it fires the standard 12.7mm Soviet HMG round: 12.7 x 108mm. US / NATO .50 BMG is 12.7 x 99mm so I wouldn't say it's "much" longer. Since it has multiple, electrically driven rotating barrels, but fires an MG cartridge (less than 20mm in caliber), it is classified as a minigun rather than a cannon. And it does have a very high rate of fire. The 12.7mm would (and will) shred infantry and light vehicles, up to and including unimproved APCs. Remember, it was a product of its time; against the M113s and even early Bradleys that would have been the Wrath of God. And Afghanistan didn't exactly have much to offer in terms of an armored threat.

The 30mm cannon (30x165mm) on some Hind variants was a fixed, dual-barrel derived the one used on the Su-25. The biggest turreted cannon the Russian Hinds have is the twin 23mm GsH-23L (23 x 115mm, not the 23 x 152mm used in the ZU/ZSU), which is on the newest models. South African upgrade kits have produced variants with a dual-feed, chin-turret 20mm cannon (US/NATO 20 x 102mm, I would guess).

[charliegrs]

yeah its chin gun uses basically 50 cal rounds...

but when you have 8 pylons { or is it 6} with every imaginable air to surface and air to air ordinance in the russian arsenal at your disposal, do you really care that your gun only fires 50 cal rounds?

[Solid Knight]

That's about a centimeter difference in length.

The older Mi-24s have six pylons and the newer ones have shortened wings with only, I think, four.

[xatu miller]

Originally Posted by Solid Knight

That's about a centimeter difference in length.

The older Mi-24s have six pylons and the newer ones have shortened wings with only, I think, four.

They all have 6 pylons. So do the new ones.

[[R-MOD]Cp]

the mi-24 hind was designed not to long after the AH-1 cobra.

At the time the Cobra had either a 7.62 minigun and a 40mm grenade launcher in its chin turret or dual 7.62 miniguns.



So back then the hind was outgunning the cobra.