The manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., GA-ASIhas announced that it has successfully integrated machine guns DAP-6 on your vertical takeoff and landing drone Mojave. On April 13, the unmanned aircraft system, UAS, Mojave attacked and destroyed multiple ground targets in seven strafings which he carried out in two flights in the Yuma desert in Arizona, United States. In all, the Mojave fired more than 10,000 bullets against targets.
“Seeing our Mojave perform this live fire demonstration really emphasizes the versatility of the Mojave UAS and what it can do. “Mojave has the ability to act as a sensor, shooter and sustainer while mitigating threat environments and vulnerabilities and safeguarding human lives,” he said. David R. Alexanderpresident of GA-ASI, in a statement.
GA-ASI has partnered with Dillon Aero to mount the two DAP-6 miniguns on the combat drone. Miniguns are a type of machine gun that is characterized by having multiple barrels and a much higher rate of fire than a standard machine gun. In the case of the DAP-6, 3,000 rounds per minute, which gives the Mojave a capacity of 6,000 per minute when you have two of themone per wing, and allows you to do fire continuously for one full minute until ammunition is exhausted.
“Equipping the Mojave for this first minigun demonstration involved a lot of ingenuity, on the part of our engineers and pilot team, and great advice from the Dillon team. Hardware and software upgrades were required to equip the weapons for use“, and a variety of ground test firing events to accurately aim at targets with the weapons firing from a fixed position on the wings,” he noted. C. Mark Brinkleysenior director of marketing and strategic communications at GA-ASI, to The War Zone.
Brinkley also highlights that the test was uneventful and no problems with vibration or recoil. “In the future, we imagine a system with rotating cannons connected to the aircraft's sensorswhich will allow a greater range of orientation and flexibility,” he adds.
The usual thing in military drones is that they use precision guided munition. This advance, the first drone of this class to be equipped with miniguns, is relevant because the use of machine guns from a drone requires that you be able to perform a type of maneuver, close to the ground, different to those needed to fire guided munitions. A weapon like a minigun has the advantage that it allows you to focus fire on smaller targets and switch more quickly from one to another than with other types of ammunition.
The DAP-6s are not the only weapon a Mojave can carry. The drone has three supports on each wing for different types. In the past it has been seen loaded with joint air-to-ground missiles (JAGM) AGM-114 Hellfires and AGM-179. According to GA-ASI, it can carry up to 16 Hellfires at once.
The Mojave, presented in 2021, belongs to the UAS family predator of the company and its avionics and flight control systems are based on the designs and systems of the MQ-9 Reaper and MQ-1C Gray Eagle-Extended Range (GE-ER).
It is one of the combat drones larger size available, with 8.84 meters in length and 16 in wingspan, and is designed to execute naval missions of surveillance, attack and reconnaissance from remote locations. However, GA-ASI is exploring the idea of also using it as logistics platformusing capsules under its wings capable of carrying up to almost half a ton of payload.