XM1203 50x228mm

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US 50mm chain gun autocannon.
50 x 228 munitions.

The XM1203 Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot with Trace is a 50 x 228 mm munition developed for the US military.[1] The projectile itself is 50 mm in diameter, encasing a long thing dart, designed to pierce armored vehicles. A light "sabot" grips the barrel's rifling, in order for the shell gets the full power of the expanding gas. Tracer rounds have a button of pyrotechnical chemical that leave a trail to help a gunner figure out their fall of shot.

Picatinny is slated to manufacture a 50mm chain-gun, to use this munition, and the related XM1204 High Explosive Air Burst round.[1] The cannon is a larger and more modern version of the 25 mm Bushmaster cannon used on Bradley fighting vehicles, various armored cars related to the Stryker, and as the main armament on smaller naval vessels, and a secondary armament on larger vessels.

Chain-guns are autocannons that use an external power source to cycle rounds through the weapon.[1] This differs from firearms and most autocannons, which harness some of the energy of the exploding round to cycle the weapon. When power is available from a vehicle's engine or battery, the gunner has more control over the rate of fire, and the weapon is not stopped when a dud is encountered.

The chain-gun that will fire the 50mm XM1203 and XM1204 is the XM913.[2] Although its shells are twice the diameter of the 25mm M242 Bushmaster, the 50mm cannons is not much longer than the smaller weapon.[3] The overall lengths of the 25mm cannon and 50mm cannon are 105.2cm and 157.7cm, respectively; while the portion of the gun that intrudes into the turret are 30cm and 40.1cm, respectively.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Ed Lopez. Army engineers develop greater lethality, speed to support future combat vehicle, 2020-07-09. Retrieved on 2020-10-23.
  2. US Army Engineers Develop Lethal Combat Vehicle Armament System, Defense World, 2020-07-13. Retrieved on 2020-10-23. “Key features of the system include a high explosive airburst munition against personnel targets including behind walls; an armor piercing munition against materiel targets; integrated fire control enhancements; graphical user interface and enhanced laser rangefinder. Integrated into the design are the 50mm auto cannon, known as the XM913, capable of firing both XM1204 High Explosive Airburst with Trace (HEAB-T), and XM1203 Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot with Trace (APFSDS-T) munitions.”
  3. Chuck Hill. 50mm Chain Gun, More Detail, Chuck Hill's blog, 2019-04-21. Retrieved on 2020-10-23. “Comparison of 50mm Bushmaster III with the 30mm Bushmaster II. By comparison the 25mm’s length over all is 105.2 in (2.672 m) and its barrel length is 85.6 in (2.175 m).”