Plate 031 · Aircraft Cannon · Modern

GAU-8/A Avenger

The seven-barrel rotary cannon built around the A-10 Thunderbolt II.

Moving Image

Footage

Ground test firings of the 20 mm Vulcan and 30 mm GAU-8 Gatling cannons.

M61 Vulcan vs GAU-8 Avenger — Test Fire Comparison

MilitaryNotes via YouTube

Historical Record

Provenance & Service

General Electric's GAU-8/A Avenger is a 30 mm hydraulically-driven Gatling cannon firing 3,900 rounds per minute. The A-10 Warthog was, famously, designed around the gun rather than the other way around. Its depleted-uranium PGU-14/B armour-piercing round made the Avenger the definitive Cold War tank-buster.