By Dan Parsons | March 11, 2021
Estimated reading time
7 minutes, 24 seconds.
Northrop Grumman is nearing production of a new 20-millimeter chain gun, an improved version of the M230 Apache nose cannon the company hopes will earn its way onto the U.S. Army’s Future Attack Recon Aircraft (FARA).
Called the “Sky Viper,” the chain gun system — the gun itself, ammunition, feeding and control mechanisms — weighs less, fires more rapidly and has a lighter recoil than the legacy cannon. It is also designed with greater accuracy and simpler, easier-to-maintain mechanisms than a rotary cannon, according to Quinn Canole, deputy director of Northrop’s guns operating unit.