HH-60G Pave Hawk Exploring New Machine Gun Options

By Tactical-Life

The following is a release from Rebecca Amber, Edwards Air Force Base Public Affairs:

Arriving in the rain, an HH-60G Pave Hawk landed Jan. 5 at Edwards Air Force Base to begin testing the ballistic dispersion of a GAU-21 .50-caliber machine gun.

The Pave Hawk will be at Edwards AFB until Jan. 22 where the 412th Test Wing and 418th Flight Test Squadron are providing the facilities, range safety, photographic documentation and maintenance support equipment.

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The 96th TW at Eglin AFB, Florida, and the 412th TW partnered up to provide Detachment 1, 413th FLTS from Nellis AFB, Nevada, a location for their test team to accomplish baseline ballistics testing. That location is Edwards AFB’s Gun Harmonizing Range.

The testing is part of the Air Combat Command’s HH-60 defensive weapons system upgrade modification proposal.

The modification proposal requires the new weapon to be an open bolt system, have a longer barrel life, a higher cyclic rate of fire, be lighter weight, and have reduced recoil. The selected weapon must also be used currently by other Defense Department services.

According to James Cooley, the technical director for Det. 1, 413th FLTS, the …Read the Rest

Source:: Tactical Life