ADEN (30 mm)

Description

The ADEN is the first and (as of Update 1.87 "Locked On") only Revolver Cannon available on the British tier 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
• Javelin F.(A.W.) Mk.9

General info

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

Available ammunition

• Default: Armor-piercing (AP) · 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.

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

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

• Stealth: Armor-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 @ 90° (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,450 m	1,500 m	2,000 m	2,500 m	2,550 m	2,600 m
AP	47.0	39.0	30.0	27.0	N/A	23.0	19.0	15.0	7.0	0.0
HEF-I	2.0	2.0	1.5	1.0	0.5	0.0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
HEI-T	2.0	2.0	1.5	1.0	0.5	0.0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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	-2.0°	47.0°	60.0°	65.0°
HEF-I	810	0.237	0.2	0.1	0.027	0.0°	79.0°	80.0°	81.0°
HEI-T	810	0.247	0.2	0.1	0.027	0.0°	79.0°	80.0°	81.0°

Comparison with analogues

Give a comparative description of cannons/machine guns, that have firepower equal to these type of weapons.

Usage in battles

Describe the cannon/machine gun in the game - its distinctive features, tactics of usage against the main opponents. Please don't write a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought.

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

- A Belgian Hawker Hunter F 1 firing its ADEN cannons

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)