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GAU-8 Bunker buster

C

cornman

Well-Known Member
Hi all,
a while ago I obtained this GAU-8 round. I was told that this is a concrete bunker buster used by the A-10 Warthog. These rounds should have been used at least in the first gulf war.
Can anyone confirm this storie?
Does anyone has some information or pictures of these rounds?

Cheers, Cornman
 

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Hi Ammodillo,
thanks for the link, but the rounds used in this test video are PGU-13 HEI rounds. But thanks for thinking with me anyway!

Regards, Cornman
 
Yes, lots of interesting flicks on this site..

..and on Youtube of course [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMTcViSApgI&feature=related"]YouTube- BLU-109 Bunker Buster Test[/ame] (BLU-109)
 
Last edited:
cornman said:
Hi all,
a while ago I obtained this GAU-8 round. I was told that this is a concrete bunker buster used by the A-10 Warthog. These rounds should have been used at least in the first gulf war.
Can anyone confirm this storie?
Click to expand...
I am very dubious about that. For a start, it doesn't resemble any GAU-8/A round that I've ever seen anywhere, incluuding in any manufacturer's data. Secondly, the aerodynamics would be quite different from other rounds, which means the sights would be off.

I suspect that it might be a high-pressure test round or something.
 
I agree with Tony. This round looks different than any other seen before, and doesn't fit the standard U.S. ammo shape or configuration. It should be painted black with red band or red nose for staballoy penetrator. All current U.S. ammo has two plastic rotating bands just above the case mouth. This looks closer to a 30mm Goalkeeper round than anything else, but doesn't even match the examples I've seen.

John
 
Thanks for all your replies.
So it will be guessing for now what type it really is..
The projectile is at least havier than a standard PGU-15 TP projectile.
TP projectile weighs around 380 grams, the other one 410 grams.
Hope I will find out what it exactly is..

Regards, Cornman
 
Am I wrong, or do I see blue paint on the nose? Could it be a -on purpose ballisticly bad shaped- short range practice projectile?
Regards DJH
 
This looks like a 30mm that General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems were playing with, the idea being the Air Force wanted to mount the GAU 9 (from the A-10) in the side of a new AC 130.

The plastic rotating bands were used because of the high rate of fire, this round looks like one of the dummy loads.
 
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