Video: DARPA wants to arms a missile with cannons

DARPA is working on a project that would arm an air-to-air missile with cannons.

For decades, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been creating cutting-edge technologies for all the services of the U.S. military.

And now, the agency is exploring the possibility of a missile that could engage targets on the ground or in the air using an onboard cannon.

“Now DARPA started development on this weapon about two years ago. And since then, details have been very limited. And well I am not sure this missile will find its way into service, if it actually does, chances are good it will carry some iteration of one of airborne cannons that are in service today,” Alex Hollings, Editor-in-Chief of Sandboxx News and host of AirPower on YouTube, said in his latest video.

The concept envisions a munition that would be equally capable of engaging targets on the ground (for example, insurgents in a counter-insurgency environment) and in the air (for instance, Chinese fighter jets or bombers in a near-peer conflict).

If you want to learn more about DARPA’s plan to create a missile with cannons, make sure to watch AirPower’s recent episode above.

Feature Image: A 30mm GAU-8 Gatling Gun system gets secured during unscheduled maintenance. (USAF)