VENOM 30 LR: From the Legendary Aircraft Gun to the Basic Armament of the Future Ground and Naval Vehicles

The VENOM 30 LR cannon, exhibited by CANiK at SAHA EXPO 2022, has been a breath of fresh air to the "medium caliber automatic cannon development" studies carried out in Turkey for a while. Therefore, it deserves a detailed review. In the first part of the 2-part article series we prepared for this purpose, we will discuss the basic features and development process of the VENOM 30 LR gun.

In the second part of our article series, by explaining the current and near future concepts of use for this weapon, we will focus on the capabilities that the inclusion of VENOM 30 LR under the CANiK brand will bring to the Turkish Armed Forces and the armed forces of friendly and allied states, as well as its contribution to the development of the Turkish defense and aerospace industry.

 

The Birth of a Legend: The ADEN Gun

The VENOM 30 LR, a gas operated revolver gun, is based on the ADEN 30 cannon. The gas-driven revolver gun was developed towards the end of the Second World War by Anton Politzer, an engineer with the German company Mauser, to meet the urgent need of increasing the firing rate of aircraft guns. The revolver mechanism is based on the logic of accelerating the number of shots compared to classical linear mechanisms by dividing the process of taking the round into the chamber and extracting the fired case into stages with the chambers inside a rotating cylinder.

As a matter of fact, when the Second World War came to an end, two models of Politzer's design - the 20mm MG213 C designed for bomber self-defense and ground attack roles, and the 30mm MK213/30 cannon designed for use in air-to-air combat- were almost completed. With the end of the war, work on these weapons was continued by the Allied Powers (especially the United Kingdom and France), who seized both the project details and the engineers who had been working thereon.

As a result of the development work over 30 mm, the original 30x85 mm ammunition was soon converted to what would be the Anglo-French 30x113 mm standard, and by the mid-1950s the legendary 30x113B DEFA 550 series (France) and ADEN (UK) cannons, with 1,200-1,400 rounds/min firing rate began to be produced.

ADEN Mk.4 guns had been the main armament of British warplanes developed and put into service for nearly 30 years until the mid-1970s. It served as the basic weapon of aircraft such as Hawker Hunter, English Electric Lightning, Harrier, Hawk, Jaguar and Saab Draken, which left their mark on military aviation history. It was also successfully used by the Sea Harrier FRS.1 and GR.3s in both air-to-air and air-to-ground engagements in the Falklands War in 1982, resulting in the destruction of 7 Argentine aircraft. As successful as it had been, this gun nevertheless ceased to be used on aircrafts designed from mid-1970s onward. This is because the UK Air Force, instead of using British designed and equipped aircraft, decided to equip its fighter-bomber squadrons with Panavia Tornado, which was designed, developed and produced as a joint European project.

 

Enter VENOM 30 LR (Low Recoil)

The VENOM 30 LR cannon was created in the second part of 2010s, as a result of a meticulous redesign and development of  the proven ADEN Mk.4, taking into account both current and future needs on the battlefields. The gun keeps the proven revolver mechanism of ADEN (and its sister DEFA guns) firing 30x113 mm ammunition. However, it is much lighter, has a longer barrel as well as a redesigned muzzle brake and a specially designed buffered cradle for high accuracy. Moreover, thanks to its firing rate that can be adjusted as single shot, 220-230 rounds/minute or 1.200-1,400 rounds/minute, this gun has turned into an ideal weapon especially for light land and sea platforms that could not carry such firepower until now. Indeed, the recoil force of the VENOM 30 LR, which weighs 120 kg with its buffered cradle, is only 7 kN!

To be continued…