![]() ![]() While no full-size mounts were produced, all of the testing work done by the Advanced Concepts Division showed that the concept was feasible. Testing was limited to scale blast testing and computational methods. This would disperse most of the recoil energy, allowing the XM204 to dispense with the usual trail associated with towed howitzers. ![]() As the gun barrel assembly moved forward the gun fired, and recoil energy would have to overcome the forward momentum of the gun barrel and breech. The XM204 used a ‘soft recoil’ system, where just before firing, the gun barrel assembly would be pushed forward by a pneumatic system pressurized with nitrogen gas. The XM204 howitzer was a little different from the standard M101 105mm howitzer in use at the time. Designers forecast a combat radius of 100 nautical miles, with 15 minutes of loitering for finding and engaging targets. The gun crew was a total of 9 men, and a total of 96 rounds were carried for the two guns. The two howitzers would be mounted won on each side of the fuselage, facing forward, and had an automatic loading system for the two guns. And so they worked up a proposal to put two 105mm howitzers onto a CH-47C Chinook helicopter. They wanted to super size the gun in helicopter gunship. Back in 1972, the Advanced Concepts division of the Aircraft Weapons Division came up with a unique idea. ![]()
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