Re: [ME] Re: Minigun madness

["Robert J. Hansen" <rjhansen@xxxxxxxx>]

> ...and doesn't have a 200,000 round mean time between failure rate and has
a
> barrel change interval how many orders of magnitude shorter?

The MTBF and barrel changes really aren't that big of wins, in my book, when
weighed against the monstrous weight and power requirements.

An old soldier once told me, "always remember that you don't really own
anything, except what you can carry at a dead run".  That's my test for
manpack weaponry; can you carry it at a dead run?  The SEALs seem to do well
enough with their M60E3s and the Rangers do well enough with their SAWs, and
the OICW/SABRE may be light enough to be a manpack weapon.

But I don't think you can run /anywhere/ while holding a minigun.  Even if
you could, you couldn't turn; 36kg of metal has a lot of momentum.

For mechanized infantry, miniguns make sense; mount 'em on a Hummer, throw
an electrical generator and ammo canister in the back, and turn the Hummer
into close infantry support.  For fixed positions, miniguns make sense.  For
aircraft, they make sense.  But for a manpack weapon... no way.