Quote:
kevineduguay1 said:
On this site you will see a statement as follows,
"Using the cannon, the A-10 is capable of disabling a main battle tank from a range of over 6,500m."
You will also find that there are two AP rounds for the gun that are both referred to as API (Armor Piercing Incendiary).
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Interesting they don't specify or offer examples of which "main battle tank" they are "disabling" from 6.5km away or how they calculate what "disabled" means. You could pepper a T55 from 6.5km away and have the crew panic and abandon the tank and that would make it tactically "disabled"
As for ammo, there are ample number of sources that say there are TWO combat rounds that cannon fires. The PGU-13/B HEI High Explosive Incendiary round and the The PGU-14/B API Armor Piercing Incendiary round . The only other round made for that gun is the PGU-15/B TP Target Practice projectile and is used for pilot training so there is one, and only one "AP" round made for that weapon. The API round IS the DU round. DU is a natural pyrophoric material which enhances the incendiary effects
I don't normally like to quote from Wikipedia but this quote sums things up quite well
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-8_Avenger
"The standard ammunition mixture for anti-armor use is a four-to-one mix of PGU-14/B Armor-Piercing Incendiary (API), with a projectile weight of about 15.0 oz (425 grams or 6,560 grains) and PGU-13/B High Explosive Incendiary (HEI) rounds, with a projectile weight of about 12.7 oz (360 grams). The PGU-14/B round incorporates a depleted uranium penetrator."
this matches the info provided by this website
http://www.hill.af.mil/library/facts...et.asp?id=5741
"The General Electric-built GAU-8/A 30mm Avenger gun system could hold up to 1,174 rounds and could fire aluminum-cased ammunition with either armor piercing incendiary, high-explosive incendiary, or training practice rounds. "
and others
Note what this website gives under specifications for that weapon
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/equip/gau-8.htm
Armor penetration 69mm at 500 meters /38mm at 1000 meters
that is typical of the info available on that weapon.
also look at
http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...tems/gau-8.htm
All in all it's difficult to make assumptions about a weapon based on a vague statement that "is capable of disabling a main battle tank from a range of over 6,500m" without knowing what they mean by "disabled". There is no evidence the GAU-8 will leave a main battle tank a smoking ruin from 6.5 km range but then....... which "main battle tank" are we taking about ? A T55, A Leo 2 ? A T-90 ? The only real "targets" the A-10 has had to deal with have never been anything even approaching "top of the line" MBT's that I'm aware of but they WILL knock out UK Scimitars in real life but they will in the game as well as any test game will demonstrate.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0331-08.htm
This School of Advanced Air and Space Studies thesis..
http://aupress.au.af.mil/saas_Theses/Haun/Haun.pdf
shows a photo of a "Serbian T-55 Destroyed by A-10 with AGM-65 Maverick" Now why use a $150,000 missle to destroy and old T-55 if the Gau-8 is such an efficient tank killer?
Don