GAU-12/U (25 mm)

The 25 mm GAU-12U on the LAV-AD turret.

Description

Write an introduction to the article in 2-3 small paragraphs. Briefly tell us about the history of the development and combat using the weaponry and also about its features. Compile a list of air, ground, or naval vehicles that feature this weapon system in the game.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• AV-8B (NA) (Suspended)
• AV-8B Plus (Suspended)
• ▄AV-8B Plus (Suspended)
• LAV-AD

General info

Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.

Available ammunition

Aircraft

• Default: SAPHEI-T* · HEI

Default belt with a 50/50 composition of SAPHEI-T* and HEI. Very effective against air targets due to every round having HE.

• Air targets: SAPHEI-T* · HEI · HEI · HEI

Air target belt which is similar to the default belt but with more HEI rounds. Far more lethal against aircraft but less dangerous against ground targets due to a lower amount of SAPHEI-T* rounds.

• Ground targets: SAPHEI-T* · HVAP · HVAP · HVAP

Belt suited for ground targets. The HVAP round has more than 60 mm of penetration which is more than enough to go through the roofs and engine decks of many tanks. Weak against air targets.

• Stealth: HVAP · HEI · HVAP · HEI

Similar to the default belt but all the SAPHEI-T* rounds are replaced by HVAP rounds. As the name implies no tracer rounds are used so players have no assistance in figuring out lead against an enemy aircraft. It does provide a good mix between attacking ground and air targets.

Ground vehicles

• Default: HVAP · HEI*
• PGU-25/U: HEI* · HEI* · HEI* · HVAP
• PGU-20/U: HVAP · HVAP · HVAP · HEI*

Comparison with analogues

There aren't many air platforms with a 25 mm cannon. The Harrier GR.7 does have a 25 mm suspended pod but the gun has inferior fire rate. However, it does have similar velocities for each round. The GAU-12/U can best be characterized as a more powerful M61 Vulcan cannon.

Usage in battles

The 25mm GAU-12/U can still be a potent weapon against modern MBT side armour in an accurate player's hands. In particular, the Leopard 2's, Japanese Type 90/10/TKX (P) and Leclerc series tanks have easily penetrable side armour when using the HVAP rounds, while still possible it isn't advised to try penetrating Russian MBTs (whether is be the T-72, T-80 or T-90 series) as you have to aim quite low down their sides to hit the propellant charges in the autoloader carousel, should you engage a Russian tank a good tactic is to rapidly fire your 70mm Hydra rockets at the drivers port/cannon barrel to blind the enemy player making it harder to hit you. When used against enemy SPAA and light tanks the GAU-12/U makes short work of anyone foolish enough to engage you.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• High fire rate
• Good variety in ammunition types and belts
• Excellent velocity (~1,100 m/s)

Cons:

• Can go through ammunition very quickly due to the RoF
• Recoil is quite significant

History

The GAU-12/U Equalizer is a 25 mm variant of the larger 30 mm GAU-8/A Equalizer that was famously used on the A-10A Thunderbolt II. Developed for the Lockheed AC-130H Spectre gunship in the 1970s, the Equalizer uses the exact same mechanism, but scaled-down to 25 mm for the AC-130H. For use on the AC-130, the gun was set at a cyclic rate of 1,800 rpm but on other jets, it fires at a rate of up to 4,200 rpm. It was principally used on the AV-8B Harrier II VTOL jet for the United States Marine Corps and Italian and Spanish Navy on an external hardpoint pod. The Navy used the gun to make a self-defense variant called the Sea Vulcan 25 intended to serve as a faster-firing alternative for deck-mounted machine guns and corvettes, frigates, or patrol boats, but it didn't enter service. It was also mounted on the Scaled Composites ARES, a close air support demonstrator, and on the LAV-AD, an anti-aircraft variant of the Marine Corps LAV-25 Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

A four-barrelled variant, designated GAU-22/A, was developed for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lighting II stealth fighter jet.

Media

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See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.