Russia Carrys Out Auto-Cannon Test For T-50 Fifth Generation Fighter

Russian United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) has carried out a live test-fire of rapid firing auto-cannon for the T-50 fifth generation fighter aircraft outside Moscow.

The company uploaded a one-minute video footage on its website and official YouTube showing a gun reportedly called 9-А1-4071K mounted on a fixed stand simulating the front part of a T-50 aircraft, RT reported Saturday.

Critical information regarding Russia’s newest and most advanced fifth-generation fighter jet remains classified, but it has been revealed that the auto-cannon is fitted to fire 30mm rounds.

The manufacturer says it is capable of penetrating most modern armored targets. It can fire high explosive, fragmentation, and incendiary munitions.

The new gun, an upgraded version of the Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-30-1 aircraft autocannon, has been designed by KBP Instrument Design Bureau.

The new weapon’s predecessor weighs only 50kg, making it the lightest 30mm gun in the world, and has a remarkably high rate of fire with up to 1,800 rounds per minute. It uses a unique evaporation cooling system to prevent detonation of high explosive rounds inside a heated barrel.

The gun’s maximum effective range is 200 to 800m against aerial targets and is 1,200 to 1,800m against surface or ground targets, according to open sources.

In combination with a laser range-finding and targeting system, it is said to be extremely accurate as well as powerful. The GSh-30-1 is mounted on several different types of fighter aircraft, including Su-30, Su-35 and other jets of the Sukhoi family.

Earlier this year, Commander of the Russian Air Force Viktor Bondarev said the military hopes to start mass production of the new fifth-generation jets soon, with the first planes coming in 2017.

The T-50 fighter jets are being manufactured by KnAAPO (Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association) in the Russian Far East.