Revolver Cannon - History

History

The archetypal revolver cannon is the Mauser MK 213, from which almost all current weapons are derived. In the immediate post-war era, Mauser engineers spread out from Germany and developed similar weapons around the world; both the British and French made outright copies of the 30 mm versions of the MK 213 as the ADEN and DEFA, respectively, Switzerland produced the Oerlikon KCA, while the U.S. used the 20 mm version, re-chambered for a slightly longer 102 mm cartridge intermediate between the 213's 82 mm and Hispano-Suiza HS.404's 110 mm. A number of larger experimental weapons were also developed, like the 42 mm Oerlikon RK 421, but did not see service.

Several generations of the basic ADEN/DEFA weapons followed, remaining largely unchanged into the 1970s. At that point a new generation of weapons developed, either for the proposed NATO 25 mm standard, or based on the Mauser 27 mm round; the leading current example is arguably the Mauser BK-27. The Rheinmetall Millennium 35 mm Naval Gun System is the largest to see service. The French GIAT 30 is a newer generation power-driven revolver cannon, and the Rheinmetall RMK30 modifies the GIAT system further by venting the gas to the rear to eliminate recoil.

The Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon of the late 19th century was not a revolver cannon in the modern sense, being of a Gatling type. Arguably, a forerunner was the Puckle gun, which was a manual revolver cannon, as opposed to an automatic one.