General Electric M134/GAU2B/A & XM214 Minigun
|
WEAPON |
Point |
Close |
Effective |
Long |
Extreme |
Dam |
ROF |
Ammo |
|
M134 |
10 |
100 |
300 |
800 |
1500 |
Wn4 |
S/L |
belt |
|
XM214 |
10 |
100 |
200 |
500 |
1000 |
Wn4 |
S/L |
belt |
|
Resource Cost |
# of Units |
Amount of Ammo |
Influence Type Needed |
|
3RP |
1 |
5000 rds |
Military |
|
Additional Notes |
|
When upgrading damage and penetrating armor with the M134, the shooter receives a +1t bonus due to the stopping power of the cartridge. All stabilization tests receive a -1t penalty. When using the M134 with the Gunnery skill, treat as if the shooter's Autofire was 5. A short burst fires 3d6 bullets, and a long burst fired with this weapon expends 10d6 rounds of ammo, (see optional rules section). When using the XM214, a shooter receives a +2 on his Autofire if fired from the hip, (Small Arms: Rifle) otherwise, (Gunnery) treat as if the shooter has an Autofire of 5. A short burst fires 3d6 bullets, and a long burst fired with this weapon expends 10d6 rounds of ammo. A Str4 test is required to carry and fire the XM214 without support, if fired from the hip, add a +2Df to hit at ranges exceeding Point. |
Miniguns are weapons designed to deliver vast quantities of ammunition on a target at a high rate of fire, through the use of the Gatling principle. They are equipped with multiple, (6) quickly rotating barrels to keep the gun from literally melting. The Army M134, (Air Force
GAU-2B/A) 7.62mm minigun was designed to provide a light-weight, high rate of fire armament package for use on helicopters and light fixed-wing aircraft. The basic 20mm M61 Vulcan has been simplified and redesigned to fire percussion primed 7.62mm ammunition. Never intended to be portable, the M134 can create hundreds of pounds of recoil and requires the equivalent of 3, 12V truck batteries to operate. Without a proper bullet trap, the spent casings are ejected at such force as to be quite dangerous to those standing in the way of the ejection port. This is all due to the fact the M134 is powerful enough to simply rip targets, (and their surroundings) apart. With a selectable fire rate, (4000 rpm on average) the minigun sounds more like a deafening chainsaw than a machinegun, and should always be provided with large quantities of ammunition. The M134 saw extensive use in Vietnam mounted on Huey gunships, and is primarily used today on a large number of US Special Operations helicopters. Aegis agents tend to resort to miniguns, only when nothing else will get the job done, (a very rare occurence).The XM214 mini-minigun was developed in 1984 and closely resembles on the M134. Designed for helicopters & light aircraft, it fires 5.56mm rounds at variable rates of fire from 1,000 to 10,000 rpm. The gun and drive weigh 15kg and the driven variant uses 0.75 -> 3.2 hp dependent on the rate of fire. The gun can be powered by, (very heavy) NiCad batteries with a duration of 80,000 rounds at 1,000 rpm. Unfortunately the recoil force is 110kg at 10,000 rpm which would knock you off your feet, but (assuming a linear relationship) if the rof were 1,000 rpm (as limited by the battery pack) then the recoil should be only 11kg which might be manageable. Despite this, military tests with the XM214 proved the weapon far too impractical for man-portable use. In theory, one of these miniguns could be carried and fired by a single shooter at 1,000-2,000 rpm, if he could lift the gun + ammo + batteries (around 80 lbs). The effort needed to employ the weapon in such a manner is hardly worth it, and the lower fire rate eliminates the point of a minigun altogether.
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