M134 Minigun

This is a fast tool.

It has six barrels. The barrels spin in a circle. This spinning helps it work very fast.

A motor makes the barrels spin. This helps the tool not get too hot. It can fire many rounds in one minute.

Many groups use this tool. Some use it on big planes. Others use it on small boats.

Some even put it on cars.

It is a very strong machine. It stays cool while it works. It is a busy tool.

The M134 Minigun is a very fast machine gun. It uses six barrels that spin in a circle.

This spinning design helps it work without getting too hot. Most guns have only one barrel. A single barrel can get very hot if it fires too much. The Minigun uses an electric motor to spin the barrels.

Because the barrels spin, the gun can do many things at once. While one barrel fires, others are busy loading new rounds. This allows it to fire between 2,000 and 6,000 rounds every minute.

Many groups use the Minigun. The U.S. Army and Air Force use it on helicopters.

The Navy and Marine Corps use it on boats and planes. Some soldiers even mount them on Humvees to protect their vehicles. A company called Dillon Aero made new parts to make the gun better. They made some parts out of titanium. Titanium is a strong metal that is very light. This helps the gun weigh less.

These changes help the gun last a long time.

The M134 Minigun is a very fast machine gun. It is a rotary gun, which means it has many barrels that spin.

This special design allows it to fire between 2,000 and 6,000 rounds every minute. The name "Mini" comes from comparing it to much larger guns like the 20 mm M61 Vulcan. Because it uses rifle ammunition, it is called a gun rather than an autocannon. This tool is used by many different branches of the U.S. military today.

The way the Minigun works is quite clever. It uses six barrels arranged in a circle inside a housing.

An external power source, like an electric motor, spins the whole barrel assembly. This spinning helps the gun stay cool during use. While one barrel is firing, other barrels are busy with different tasks. For example, two barrels might be pulling out old shells. Three other barrels are busy loading new rounds into place. This constant cycle prevents the gun from overheating or jamming.

The history of this design goes back a long time. Richard Jordan Gatling invented a hand-cranked version in the 1860s. He later added an electric motor to his design. He received a patent for his work on July 25, 1893. Later, during the Vietnam War in the 1960s, the U.S. military needed a better weapon. Helicopters used in the jungle often had single-barrel guns that overheated. To fix this, General Electric scaled down a larger cannon design. This created the modern M134 Minigun we know today.

Many different versions of the Minigun exist for different jobs. The U.S. Army uses the M134 or XM196 models. The Air Force and Navy use the GAU-2/A or GAU-17/A versions. A company called Dillon Aero made many improvements to the design. They created the M134D, which is a very reliable version. They even made a version called the M134D-T using titanium. Titanium is a metal that is strong but very light. This helps the gun weigh less for helicopters and planes.

You can find the Minigun in many places today. It is often mounted on helicopters like the Bell UH-1 Iroquois.

Some versions are even put on small boats or Humvees. In the past, soldiers even used fake guns made of PVC pipes to look like Miniguns. This was done to protect their vehicles from attackers. Whether on a plane, a boat, or a truck, the Minigun is built for speed. It remains a very important part of modern military technology.

The M134 Minigun is a high-speed, six-barrel rotary machine gun used by the United States military. It uses 7.62×51mm NATO ammunition, which is standard rifle ammunition. This specific caliber is why the weapon is called a "gun" rather than an autocannon. The name "Mini" comes from its smaller size compared to the 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon. The M134 can fire at a very high rate. It can reach between 2,000 and 6,000 rounds per minute.

The mechanism of the Minigun relies on a rotating barrel assembly. It uses an external power source, which is usually an electric motor, to spin the barrels. The gun consists of multiple closed-bolt rifle barrels arranged in a circular housing. This rotary design allows the weapon to perform several tasks at once. While one barrel is firing, two other barrels are extracting empty shells. At the same time, three other barrels are busy loading new rounds.

This continuous cycle prevents the barrels from overheating. It also helps to prevent the jams that often happen with single-barrel guns.

Modern versions of the Minigun have many different names and parts. The U.S. Army uses the M134 or XM196 designations. The U.S. Air Force and Navy use the GAU-2/A or GAU-17/A models. To feed ammunition, the gun requires a delinking feeder. This device strips the links from the ammunition belts. The original feeder was the MAU-56/A, but it was replaced by the MAU-201/A. There was also a gas-operated version called the XM133. However, that version was never put into production.

The history of rotary guns began with Richard Jordan Gatling. He invented a hand-cranked mechanical Gatling gun in the 1860s. On July 25, 1893, he received a patent for an improved version. This new version used an electric motor to spin the mechanism. It had a theoretical rate of 3,000 rounds per minute. During World War I, German companies tried making externally powered rotary guns. One design was the Fokker-Leimberger, which used 7.92×57mm Mauser rounds. It claimed to fire over 7,000 rounds per minute, but it suffered from cartridge-case ruptures.

In the 1960s, the United States developed the modern Minigun for the Vietnam War. Helicopters in the jungle were often vulnerable to small arms fire. Single-barrel guns on these helicopters would overheat or jam during combat. To solve this, General Electric scaled down the M61 Vulcan cannon. The resulting M134 could fire up to 6,000 rounds per minute without overheating. The U.S. government bought about 10,000 of these guns during the war. They were mounted on many aircraft, such as the Bell UH-1 Iroquois and the AC-130 gunship.

In the 1990s, a company called Dillon Aero began improving the design. They fixed problems with worn-out weapons and improved the overall system. They created the M134D, which became a standardized weapon for the 160th SOAR. Dillon Aero also developed the M134D-T, which uses a titanium housing and rotor to reduce weight. A hybrid version, the M134D-H, uses a steel housing and a titanium rotor. This version is cheaper and has a lifespan of 1.5 million rounds. This is much higher than the 40,000-round lifespan of a conventional machine gun.

The Minigun is used in many different environments today. While it started in aircraft, it is now used on small boats and Humvees. In Iraq, Special Forces mounted M134D guns on vehicles for extra firepower. Some soldiers even used mock-ups made of painted PVC pipes to intimidate enemies. However, there have been legal issues with other manufacturers. Garwood Industries makes the M134G variant. Between 2015 and 2017, the company's CEO was involved in a case involving the illegal supply of parts to drug cartels.