GAU-8/A seven-barreled "Avenger" 30 mm cannon:
Using the Gatlin gun's seven rotating barrels, a very high rate of fire can be achieved (about 4,200 rounds per minuet) without excessive barrel heating. This is because as one barrel fires the other six are briefly cooling down. Each of the seven barrels acts as an individual 30 mm cannon with its own breech and bolt, these are all joined around a single rotor along a common axis using a hydraulic motor.
Tests results showed that the 10,000 lb recoil was sufficient to move the nose of the aircraft. To remedy this, the nose gear was moved to the right and the cannon placed along the center line of the aircraft.
The GAU-8/A is actually part of the larger A/A 49E-6 gun system that also includes the ammunition drum. The system weighs 4,200 lbs. and weighs as much as a car.
Ammo:
Combat Mix (CM). One PGU-13 High Explosive Incendiary (HEI) for every five rounds of PGU-14 Armor Piercing Incendiary (API) rounds. The API round uses Depleted Uranium (DU) and has a muzzle velocity of 3,240 ft/sec.
All this information was pulled directly from the DCS flight manual for this aircraft, so all credit goes to the folks at Eagle Dynamics.
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