Akan m/39A (12.7 mm)

Description

The 12.7 mm Akan m/39A is a Swedish aircraft machine gun. It is equipped on some of their early jet fighters.

The Akan m/39A, originally based on the Browning machine gun, was a conversion of the license-produced 13.2 mm Hotchkiss-cartridge chambered Akan m/39A back into the original 12.7x99 mm (or .50 BMG) cartridge.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• A21RB
• J21RA

General info

The 12.7 mm Akan m/39A was basically a rebarrelled version of the 13.2 mm Akan m/39A. The gun had all the same proportions and technical details but was rebarrelled to the more common Browning .50 cal (12.7 x 99 mm) ammunition instead of the worldwide less common Hotchkiss calibre of .52 in (13.2 x 99 mm). Since 12.7 mm ammunition was cheaper to buy than the cost to produce new 13.2 mm ammunition, all 13.2 mm weapons were re-chambered during the post-war era, and after 1950 basically all Swedish weapons fired the new cartridge. Other specifications remained unchanged.

Commonly mistaken with the Browning M2 (due to the same calibre) the Akan m/39A featured a modified electrical firing mechanism rating it from 600 rpm to 1,500 rpm. The gun was used as secondary armament for tanks with a reduced rate of fire (720 rpm) as well as standard armament for a variety of Swedish late- and post-WW2 aircraft such as the Saab 18, Saab 21, and the predecessor FFVS J22B with a rate of 1080 rpm.

Available ammunition

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Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

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Pros:

• Potent gun against air targets
• High rate of fire

Cons:

History

The Akan M/39A (12.7mm) is a rechambered variant of the Akan m/39A (13.2 mm) which is itself a Swedish licensed version of FN Browning M.1939.

Sweden ordered the FN Browning M.1939 in the original 13.2mm Hotchkiss in 1939 after expressing interest in 1938 and would get a license to produce the design by LM Ericsson in Stockholm. After the end of World War II, however, Sweden realized the 13.2mm Hotchkiss was too expensive to continue purchasing. However, they have recently purchased the J26 (surplus P-51 Mustangs) and thus they had the M2 Browning in .50 BMG from these aircraft which was designated the Akan m/45. As a result, the Swedish decided to convert their Akan m/39s to .50 BMG in 1947. The conversion was a simple matter of swapping the barrels leaving them to continue to have a stock of 13.2mm barrels and cartridges for a few years for use in live fire exercises. While the .50 caliber was arguably a downgrade, the Swedish Air Force by this point had switched to 20mm cannons in their main fighters. The T18B coastal bomber was the last aircraft to use the .50 Akan m/39A as a weapon and was retired in 1969. In 1950s, the Akan m/39A became a training weapon for Swedish fighter jets such as the A28B (export version of the de Havillard Vampire fighter jets) and the J29 Tunnan fighter jets. The last weapon to use the Akan m/39A as a trainer weapon in place of their cannons was the J37 Viggen series which was retired in 2007.

Media

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See also

• Akan m/39A (13.2 mm)

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.