grassm@eecs.nwu.edu (Mark O. Grasse) (11/21/89)
From: "Mark O. Grasse" <grassm@eecs.nwu.edu>
This is in reference to the talk on the net about the Bushmaster cannon.
The M242 Bushmaster is a 25mm, chain driven cannon manufactured by Hughes
I believe. It is currently the main armament of the U.S. Army M2 and M3
Bradley Infantry (M2) and Cavalry (M3) Fighting vehicles.
On these vehicles it is mounted in a stabilized turret with a Thermal
imaging sight system. There is no laser rangefinder and ranging is through
stadia lines on the sight reticles.
These figures could be off a bit, but there are approx. 300 rounds of
ready ammunition stored in the turret and approx 1500 more in the turret
bustle.
The weapon fires practice, high explosive, armor piercing, and Ithink incendiary shells. The gunner can select which rounds are fired.
The Marines also use the Bushmaster on their LAV as one of several
weapons systems.
The M2/3 also has a 2-tube TOW anti-tank missle system but it is not
part of the Bushmaster system even though it is mounted on the turret
and uses the same fire-control system.
There are versions of the Bushmaster mounted on electrical turrets
on HMMMMMMv's.
There has been talk of upping it to a 30mm cannon, but nothing yet.
The 25mm has a good range, high rate of fire (selectable) and good
penetration on things like BMP's, BTR's and other light armor. It is
also a very accurate system.
m. grassejanf@nada.kth.se (Jan Frelin) (11/22/89)
From: janf@nada.kth.se (Jan Frelin) In article <11595@cbnews.ATT.COM> grassm@eecs.nwu.edu (Mark O. Grasse) writes: >This is in reference to the talk on the net about the Bushmaster cannon. > > The M242 Bushmaster is a 25mm, chain driven cannon manufactured by Hughes >I believe. It is currently the main armament of the U.S. Army M2 and M3 >Bradley Infantry (M2) and Cavalry (M3) Fighting vehicles. Since I posted the original question Ive got several answers, one as a personal letter and the rest here. They suggest that its one of the following: 1) an automatic cannon, as above. 2) an auto-grenade launcher 3) some kind of combined system. Conclusion: The picture I saw published did not feature the M242 Bushmaster, as the caption suggested. I know how the Bradley cannon looks, and that wasnt it. The picture was probably the motorized AGL of the ninth motorized division that an earlier poster described. /Yours, Jan Frelin