New Rifle Supplied to US Fighter Pilots

[Researcher Byung-ho Park, Mobile Firepower Research Team 2, Defense Agency for Technology and Quality] The U.S. Air Force (USAF) has supplied a new 5.56mm rifle to fighter pilots. The official name of the rifle is the GAU-5A Aircrew Self-Defense Weapon (ASDW).

According to the U.S. Air Force, the GAU-5A is a rifle based on Colt's M4 carbine, designed to help pilots who have ejected from aircraft in distress to be armed with enhanced firepower. The GAU-5A was designed at the USAF's firearms manufacturing facility. It can be disassembled for storage and is compatible with storage in ejection seats of U.S. fighter jets.

The GAU-5A does not come equipped with a sight and weighs approximately 3 kg. It can be separated into two parts and can be assembled within 30 seconds when needed. Photos of the stored condition show it is issued with four 30-round magazines. The U.S. Air Force invested $2.6 million from February 2018 to January of this year to supply 2,700 rifles to aircrew members.

Many fighter jets use ejection seats compatible with the GAU-5A. Representative aircraft include the A-10 Thunderbolt II, Boeing's F-15 Eagle, Lockheed Martin's F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-22 Raptor, Rockwell's B-1B Lancer bomber, and Northrop Grumman's B-2A Spirit bomber.

Until now, fighter pilots have been issued 9mm-class pistols. Since pistols are carried on the pilot's body, no separate storage compartment is needed, allowing very high accessibility in emergencies. However, due to the small caliber, pistols have a short lethal range, limiting their effectiveness against enemy ground forces.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.