July 9 F-35 made the first shots from his gun Gatling GAU-22 / A. The gun fires 25mm ammunition, which can be used for targeting the enemy in combat mode “air-to-air” and “air-land”.
“How Air Force pilot with experience, I can say that weapons will definitely be used during the shelling of targets in the” air-land “or” air-to-air “- Major Andrew Rawlings of the 461 th squadron flight test confirmed that the possibility of weapons F- 35 correspond to the needs of the Air Force.
But the video of the test shows that the stationary plane, does not seem able to run their engines, there are far removed from the conditions with which the aircraft will encounter in actual combat.
According Guns.com, cannon F-35 can carry 55 rounds per second, but the shooting should be relatively slow in order to save ammunition. This is an important measure for the F-35, as the jet can hold only 220 rounds in the cage. If you continuously shoot 55 rounds per second, F-35 will be unloaded within four seconds.
Such a small stock of ammunition can be a problem, since the F-35 is designed to replace the A-10, which can contain 1,350 rounds for close air support mission. Implements are important in these operations, since they may affect the enemy units with less risk of collateral damage than missiles.
However, the F-35 guns equipped with more firepower than previous guns fighters.
“GAU-22 / A uses 25-mm shell, which is much more powerful than the ones I used to use in a traditionally manned F-16, F-15E, -F15-C. They use a 20-mm shells” – Rollins said.
Below you can view a video of the test on June 9.