tahadar wrote:
just to clarify, that gun shoots the same round as the US jets cannon in normal BF2. Splash damage for snipers? yey!
Sorry to contradict you, Tahadar, but actually the only similarity between the rounds is the caliber--both are 20 mm. The NTW fires a low velocity 20 mm round with a significantly shorter casing than the aircraft ammunition (the casing is 83.5 mm in length--shorter, actually, than the casing of the 12.6 x 99 round used by the M82/M95). A shorter casing limits the amount of propellant that can be loaded behind the projectile, contributing to the lower velocity of the round. Though I'm not certain about this, I imagine the reason for using the low velocity round is to reduce recoil to a point where it wouldn't injure the shooter. Back in the '80s, the U.S. Army experimented with developing an anti-materiel sniper rilfe based around the round used in the 25 mm Bushmaster cannon--the chain gun used in the M2 Bradley and the LAV 25. While the round proved superior in damaging hard targets, the kick of the rifle was such that it would have broken/dislocated the shoulder of the shooter, so the project was scrapped and for a while they chose to rely on the M82 outfitted with specialized ammo as an anti-material weapon. (An M82 equipped with armor-piercing or Raufoss incendiary rounds can--and will--penetrate the the armored driver's hatch of a BMP/BTR/BRDM, killing the driver.)
The reduced velocity of the NTW's 20 mm round means that it possesses quite a bit less kinetic energy than the aircraft round, so it won't do as much damage aas one might anticipate for a shoulder-fired projectile of such large size. It is, however, a cannon round, which means that it can be (and usually is) equipped with an explosive projectile, and this is where most of its damage potential comes from.
But I'll agree with you, the thing looks to be a beast and I'd hate to be on the receiving end of a shot from it. But can you imagine lugging that monster around the battlefield? It weighs almost 60 pounds.
Last edited by Books_DCDF (2006-06-17 09:08:28)
