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M197 20 mm Cannon (TM197B), and Universal Turret System (United States), Guns - Integral and mounted
Development

The M197 is a lightweight three-barrel derivative of the M61A1 six-barrelled 20 mm Vulcan cannon. The M197, which approximates to half a six-barrelled M61A1, uses many common parts and was developed in the mid-1960s by General Electric, (now General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products). The M197 was specifically designed for helicopters, light fixed-wing aircraft and small naval craft.The cannon entered production in 1969 and its chief airborne applications in the Universal Turret System (UTS) were fitted to Bell AH-1 helicopters. The UTS was developed by General Electric (now General Armament and Technical Products) to replace the M97 turret found on earlier models of the AH-1 HueyCobra. It was designed to accommodate a wide range of gun options, but its only actual application to date has been with the M197 on the AH-1 and latterly on Agusta's upgraded A 129 Mangusta International (Mangusta Multirolo/Da Combattimento). The M197 gun is also found in the GPU-2A gun pod, which could be carried by a wide variety of helicopters and is still in limited use with a few operators worldwide. In October 2000 Boeing selected a General Dynamics 12.7 mm turreted gun system for the USMC's MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor. The turret, a derivative of the UTS, was to be fitted to the V-22's forward bulkhead with a 750-round under-the-floor magazine. The design enabled in-flight reloads of the GAU-19/A GECAL 50 12.7 mm three-barrelled gun. However, the cost of the gun installation has proven to be higher than expected and the plan has been
Description

The M197 20 mm cannon is a three-barrel electrically powered, lightweight derivative of the M61A1 Vulcan Gatling type cannon. It is readily adaptable to turrets, pintle mountings, gun pods and internal applications. The cannon is operated by a variable rate electric motor by which the rate of fire is adaptable to air-to-air, air-toground and ground-to-air applications. All barrels are rigidly clamped together and attached to the forward end of the breech rotor, which rotates in a stationary housing. The bare M197 cannon is 1.827 m long, has a maximum diameter of 343 mm, and weighs 60 kg. The three 1.52 m long barrels weigh 27.0 kg. When the cannon is fired the rotor revolves anti-clockwise looking in the direction of fire.Ammunition can be fed to the cannon as a standard linked belt or by a link-less feed. The M197 fires standard 20 102 mm ammunition such as the M50 series also used for the French M621 and US M39 guns. These include the M56 High Explosive, M56A1 High-Explosive Incendiary, M53A1 Armour-Piercing Incendiary and M55A1 Practice Ball rounds. An improved 20 mm round, designated PGU-28/B SAPHEI, is available with a choice of aluminium or brass case. When using link-less ammunition, as in the GPU-2/A pod, the M197 has a highest selectable rate of fire of 1,500 rds/min, but rates up to 3,000 rds/min are reported to be possible with link-less ammunition. When used with linked ammunition, as with the turret or pintle applications, the rate of fire is dropped