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The Hughes EX-17 "Heligun" is a double-barrel 7.62 mm calibre machine gun. The weapon is gas-operated and was developed by Hughes Aircraft for use in the OH-6 recon helicopter.

Overview

The Heligun was developed by Hughes Aircraft as part of a complete package for the OH-6 recon helicopter. It offered a number of significant advantages over the M134 Minigun – it weighs less, it was self-powered (not electrically driven), and a 6000RPM firing rate. Ultimately, it was not adopted because the reliability (mean time between stoppages) could not be brought up to par, and US Army officials decided that it did not offer enough improvement over the already adopted M134 Minigun to be worth the switch.

References

1. ^ "USA - EX-17 Heligun : Zbraně s revolverovým závěrem (Systém Clarke)". 23 November 2010.
2. "EX-17 Heligun". 31 October 2011.
3. "Multiple barrel machine gun" (PDF).

Further reading

• "The Heligun". Gun Stories. Season 12. Episode 9. 15 March 2023. Outdoor Channel.
• Joseph Trevithick (20 November 2014). "The Heligun Was Supposed to Be the Next Big Machine Gun". Medium. 8d892d19f6ed.

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