M134 Minigun / GAU-2
Summary
| Country | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Category | Machine gun |
| Manufacturer | General Electric |
Technical specifications
| M134 Minigun / GAU-2 | |
|---|---|
| Fire Rate | 4000 - 6000 rounds/min. |
| Caliber | 7.62 x 51 mm OTAN |
| Magazine | belt rounds |
| Length | 801 mm (31.5 in) |
| Weight | 30.0 kg (66.1 lb) |
| Range | 1200 m (3937 ft) |
Description
The M134 Minigun is an American 7.62×51mm NATO six-barrel rotary machine gun. In the 1960s, the United States Armed Forces began exploring modern variants of electrically powered, rotating barrel Gatling-style weapons for the Vietnam War, as helicopters were vulnerable to small arms fire and faced weapon overheating and jams. General Electric designers scaled down the rotary-barrel 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon for 7.62×51mm NATO ammunition, resulting in the weapon designated M134. Dillon Aero developed an improved version, the M134D, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, leading to M134D-T and M134D-H variants with reduced weight and increased lifespan. Garwood Industries also produces an M134G version with modifications to the original design.
The basic minigun is a six-barrel, air-cooled, and electrically driven rotary machine gun with a high rate of fire. It features a Gatling-style rotating barrel assembly and requires an external power source, normally electric, but also pneumatic or hydraulic. A gas-operated variant, designated XM133, was also developed. The multi-barrel design prevents overheating and allows for a high firing rate by simultaneously handling firing, extraction, and loading across different barrels. While it can feed linked ammunition, it requires a delinking feeder, with the original MAU-56/A unit replaced by the improved MAU-201/A.
Versions and variants:
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M134 and XM196 (United States Army)
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GAU-2/A (three versions) and GAU-17/A (United States Air Force and United States Navy)
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XM196 (includes an ejection sprocket developed for the XM53 Armament Subsystem)
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M134D, M134D-T, and M134D-H (Dillon Aero improvements focusing on design and weight reduction)
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M134G (Garwood Industries variant featuring a selectable rate of fire)
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GAU-17/A (General Dynamics variant, features a slotted flash hider and is primarily used for flexible installations)
The weapon was extensively used in the Vietnam War on aircraft, including helicopters like the OH-6, OH-58, AH-1, and UH-1, and fixed-wing aircraft such as the A-37 and A-1, and was mounted in side pods, turrets, on pylons, and as door guns. Fixed-wing gunships like the AC-47, AC-119, and AC-130 utilized side-firing configurations, often using weapon pods like the SUU-11/A, M18, or the purpose-built MXU-470/A modules. It has been used in various helicopter armament subsystems such as the M21 and M27. More recently, it has been mounted on Navy small boats and US Army Special Forces vehicles like Humvees and used as pintle-mounted defensive armament on USN and USMC helicopters and surface ships, where it is designated Mk 44.
The M134 Minigun and its variants are used by several branches of the U.S. military, including the United States Army, the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, and the United States Marine Corps. The Royal Thai Air Force also tested a configuration utilizing the MXU-470/A on the AU-23A Peacemaker, although they later selected a different cannon.