Recon helicopter to get Gatling gun - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Recon helicopter to get Gatling gun

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Army has decided to arm the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) with the GAU-19/A, a 185-pound, three-barrel Gatling gun by General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products (GD ATP).

A rapid-fire gun is crucial for a scout helicopter, which is likely to encounter fast-emerging enemies, an Army official said.

The Army is negotiating a price for the first 490 GAU-19/As, which can fire 1,300 12.7mm rounds a minute. The weapon will be externally mounted.

“We are working internally on some projects to make the gun lighter,” said John Binkley, GD ATP’s senior director of business development, at the AUSA Winter symposium here..

Developed by GD in the 1980s, the GAU-19/A is being used in Turkey and on Black Hawk helicopters in Colombia by counter-narcotics forces, Binkley said.

GD ATP will build the barrels for the U.S. Army’s GAU-19/A at its facility in Saco, Maine.

The ARH, a replacement for the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior, is expected to field by 2011.