This is Russia's fastest firing Armament, the AK630M1-2 CIWS. It has a monstrous 10krpm fire rate and consists of 2x 6 barreled rotary cannons firing 30mm ammunition. So It costs, $2,000,000 to fire this weapon for 12 seconds.
But what happens if you try and put this thing in a plane. Well meet the MiG-27. Introduced in 1975, Russia swiftly retired it by 1993. It had just one of these 6 barreled rotary cannons called the GSh-6-30 used for strafing and ground attacks. Truly terrifying if you got in its way.
But the problem was, it also decimated the plane itself. It was fixed to the plane via a gondola under the fuselage that had to be mounted at an angle to better absorb the recoil, distributing it across the structure of the aircraft.
However, this wasn’t enough, the vibrations caused by firing the rotary cannon, caused cracks in the fuel tanks, radio and avionics failures, tearing and jamming of the forward landing gear doors (which lead to at least 3 crash landings), cracking of the gun sights, random jettisons of the cockpit canopy and so so much more. It would even destroy the plane’s own landing lights, necessitating floodlight runways for night flights.
So whilst a high fire rate, large caliber weapon designed to obliterate your enemies may sound great, using it could end up in mutually assured destruction.
