Our friendly local Airport held an open house this weekend. The Army sent over a couple Apache helicopters and crews over. The pilot explained how the pilot sits in the rear cockpit and the gunner sits in the front. One of the weapons at his control is the 30mm chain gun. It's connected to his helmet mounted sight and aims anywhere he looks. Each bullet costs $18. According to the Army Times site, the gun shoots 625 rounds per minute. That works out to $11,250 per minute with a total capacity of $21,600 (1200 rnds).
The SCQueen inquired about the rocket pod (sorry no pic). She asked where she could get her car equipped - just the thing for dealing with traffic. Each pod contains 19 rockets at $600 each, and there is a second pod on the other side ($11,400 each pod).
Kinda brings a different perspective to the $2-4 per round cost of hunting ammunition. This is not a quibble on costs. On the contrary, nothing in my safe is going to put much of a dent in a tank. Instead, should the need arise, I'm going to need them to go and kill some tanks. And I believe in giving people the tools the need to do their jobs. Sometimes it's good to see where our tax dollars go. I'm ok with a gunner practicing with $18 rounds, 'cuz when you need him, there is no replacement. Guys, thanks for dropping by our airport and thanks for serving!
If you've got the money (and you'll need LOTS of it) Scottsdale Gun Club will take you out into the desert in a Humvee with an H+K GMG automatic grenade launcher on top of it.
ReplyDeleteEach round you fire will cost you $500, including tax stamp. A belt of 32 rounds is $16k, and the sucker can shoot that off in 10 seconds.