ADEN (30 mm)

Description

The ADEN is the first and (as of Update 1.87 "Locked On") only Revolver Cannon available on the British rank 6 jets, and is arguably the best 30 mm cannon in the game due to its extreme power, high rate of fire, decent accuracy and solid muzzle velocity. However, if the pilot is a bit too trigger happy, they might find themselves out of ammunition very quickly.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• Hunter F.1
• Hunter F.6
• Javelin F.(A.W.) Mk.9
• Swift F.1
• Swift F.7

General info

Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.

Available ammunition

• Default: Armour-piercing (AP) · High-explosive incendiary tracer (HEI-T)

The default round that all players start with. With a mix of AP and HEI-T rounds, it can double as an "universal" belt going between air and ground targets.

• Air targets: High-explosive fragmentation incendiary (HEF-I) · High-explosive incendiary tracer (HEI-T)

As the name implies, this belt is the best for Air-to-Air combat due to the replacement of the AP rounds with the powerful HEF-I rounds.

• Ground targets: Armour-piercing (AP) · High-explosive incendiary tracer (HEI-T) · Armour-piercing (AP)

Basically the default belt with one less HEI-T round. If ground attack is your intention, use the default belts.

• Stealth: Armour-piercing (AP) · High-explosive fragmentation incendiary (HEF-I)

Sacrifices the HEI-T rounds for AP shells in order to preserve stealth. Best option if you value the "surprise" factor, but otherwise use the Air Targets belt.

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
AP	47	39	30	27	23	19
HEF-I	2	2	2	2	2	2
HEI-T	2	2	2	2	2	2

Shell details
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Normalisation at 30° from horizontal	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
AP	790	0.274	N/A	N/A	N/A	-1.0°	47°	60°	65°
HEF-I	810	0.237	0.2	0.1	34.6	0.0°	79°	80°	81°
HEI-T	810	0.247	0.2	0.1	34.6	0.0°	79°	80°	81°

Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

Due to the good muzzle velocity, amazing fire rate and brutal damage, the ADEN is the ideal cannon for any situation the pilot might find themselves in. Their flexible nature allows for many play styles and can cater to engagement. The high rate of fire and adequate muzzle velocity combined with the bullet's power makes it a solid dogfighting weapon, or it can use its great damage and bullet hose tendencies to light up bombers of all kinds, as an initial burst is usually enough to down any plane when aimed well.

Versus fighters, you want to aim for centre mass, preferably near the cockpit or engine in order to ensure the most bullets hit the target, and one does not have to worry about shots going into the fuselage being useless due to the explosiveness of the rounds. Versus bombers, you want to aim for the wings and engines when approaching from a non-head on angle, as you can very easily shred through wings, taking out the bomber by extension.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• High rate of fire
• Brutal damage per shell - can disintegrate even heavy bombers in a well-aimed burst
• Can fit many roles on the battlefield due to AP shells which can penetrate 47 mm of armour
• Tied with the French DEFA cannons for highest burst mass in the game
• Fairly accurate
• Amazing belts
• Relatively high ammo count

Cons:

• Chews through ammo due to the ludicrous rate of fire
• Requires some trigger discipline

History

WWII Auto-Cannon Development

During WWII, the German firm Mauser developed a new design of Auto-Cannon relying on a motorized gas-driven firing mechanism instead of a traditional firing system in order to maximize fire rate. They dubbed the cannon the "Mauser MG 213" and continuously matured the design with improvements such as the replacement of the revolver cassette to a diagonal cam with a follower.

Unfortunately, by the time the MG 213 was proposed, the German outcome of the war was clear and they had lacked the ability to waste valuable resources on an extremely complicated cannon when the already in use MG 151/20, MK 108 and MK 103 preformed quite amicably. Mauser continued to work on their design until the war ended, and the project was subsequently abandoned.

After The War

After the war ended, the MG 213 became well known among many armament circles and many firearm firms saw its potential, so they took up the design. A common 30x113 mm shell was designed in order to improve the poor muzzle velocity of the MK 108 round, 540 m/s versus the new design's 790 m/s. The new shell's muzzle velocity was only a tad bit slower than the 20 mm contemporary, the Hispano Mk.V's 840 m/s, making it suitable for dogfighting and for use versus larger targets. Thanks to the motorized firing mechanism, the effective rate of fire on the revolver cannon was 1,300, a significant improvement over the already fast-firing Hispano Mk.V.

British Design

After seeing the destructive potential of the revolver cannon and its new shells, the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield rapidly set up production and development of the cannon. The cannon was named ADEN, a combination of the shortening of the Armament Development Establishment and the N for Enfield. First entering production with the Hawker Hunter, the cannon was then armed on every British gun-armed aircraft until the 1980's. Four official variants were produced until the type's eventual discontinuation, although a fifth variant was designed improving the fire rate to 1,500-1,700 RPM, but was never fully realized. No new variants of the Mk.5 ADEN cannon were produced, but the older models were upgraded to fit these parameters, redesignated as the "Mk 5 Straden".

Media

An excellent addition to the article would be a video guide, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

See also

• DEFA 541 (30 mm), DEFA 551 (30 mm) and DEFA 552 (30 mm) - The French equivalent of the ADEN cannons.
• FMC T-160 - An American 20 mm development of the MG 213. Redisgnated as the "M39" later in its life.

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the weapon;
• other literature.

Britain aircraft cannons
20 mm	Hispano Mk.I · Hispano Mk.II · Hispano Mk.V · Oerlikon KAD-B
25 mm	ADEN 25
30 mm	ADEN · ADEN Mk.4
40 mm	Rolls-Royce Type BH · Vickers S
47 mm	Vickers P
57 mm	Molins Class M
	Foreign:
20 mm	GI2 (South Africa) · Hispano 404 (France) · M61A1 (USA)
27 mm	Akan m/85 (Sweden) · Mauser BK27 (Germany)
30 mm	M230E-1 (USA)