Forum: F-35 Lightning II

Hi all,

I am doing some research on the F-35 and thought it would be easiest to ask some stuff here. I can not find the location of the cannon on an F-35C, would anyone be of assistance?

Thanks Very Happy

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The F-35 gun on the Conventional Take Off Version is located on the upper left side. The other two version CV & STOVAL have the gun in a pod mounted on the Centerline.

Cheers,

ViperDude

Yep ViperDude bet me to it. Only the Air Forces (and I assume most foreign models) F-35A has an internal gun, the Navy's F-35C and the U.S. Marines and Britains Royal Navy F-35B rely on a gun pod. I bet you can guess how I feel about that.....

Thanks for the replies guys.

Does anyone have a picture showing an example of this? I am searching diligently. Sad

gydafud wrote:

Thanks for the replies guys.

Does anyone have a picture showing an example of this? I am searching diligently. Sad

On the F-35B/C, there is no internal gun. Instead an optional wedge shaped gun pod can be carried on the belly 1250 lbs hard point along the centerline. If you look at the photo (below) of the F-35 with the bay door opened, the gun pod resides in the area where the inner doors form a V (See area circled in red).

Here are both gun systems

Thanks again guys.

Yeah crywolf I found that page, but I was unsure of the actual location of the mounted gun. Couldn't seem to find any images with it in place.

the correct answer is: Safely back on the boat when you'll probably need it most.

Lightndattic wrote:

the correct answer is: Safely back on the boat when you'll probably need it most.

Ain't that the truth.

Ski

225 rounds will last about 2 seconds right?

darkvarkguy wrote:

225 rounds will last about 2 seconds right?

No, the GAU-22/U fires at 2880 rounds per minute at full rate. So, 180~225 is about 3.8~4.7 seconds worth of ammo. But gatlings take about a second and a half to get to full rate. So in multiple 1 second long short bursts, its about 7~9 seconds total worth of firing time.

The gun in the F-35A doesn't look like it takes up to much room? What's in that same space on the F-35B and F-35C???

500lbs of non weight

Elite 1K Joined: May 26, 2005 - 08:39 PM Posts: 1496

dwightlooi wrote:

darkvarkguy wrote:

225 rounds will last about 2 seconds right?

No, the GAU-22/U fires at 2880 rounds per minute at full rate. So, 180~225 is about 3.8~4.7 seconds worth of ammo. But gatlings take about a second and a half to get to full rate. So in multiple 1 second long short bursts, its about 7~9 seconds total worth of firing time.

I'm pretty sure the GAU-22 is built like the F-22's M61A2 in that it has a lightened barrel cluster (in addition to being only 4 barrels instead of the GAU-12's 5 or the M61's 6) that allows for a faster spin-up than the older Vulcan cannons.

Guysmiley wrote:

I'm pretty sure the GAU-22 is built like the F-22's M61A2 in that it has a lightened barrel cluster (in addition to being only 4 barrels instead of the GAU-12's 5 or the M61's 6) that allows for a faster spin-up than the older Vulcan cannons.

Well, sort of. But the reduction of the number of barrels is also an indication that the desired rate of fire may be lower.

The 25x137 mm cartridge pushes a 492g projectile at 3,630 fps compared to the 20x102mm cartridge which runs a 263g projectile at 3,380 fps. In terms of kinetic energy, the 25mm round packs 297.7 kJ compared to the 20mm round's 138.2 kJ. So it is essentially twice as powerful a round -- flatter shooting, better penetration, heavier explosive fill. One hit is pretty much equivalent to two 20mm hits on soft targets and worth even more on hard stuff which requires the round to punch through a few centimeters of steel.

The 25mm cartridge is also much bigger and you can carry less per unit space. So about 1/2 the M61A1's cyclic rate is not a bad place to start.

Forum: F-35 Lightning II

F-35 cannon location?