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| Year | ? |
| Caliber | 30mm |
| Projectile | ~400g |
| Rate of fire | 1,500-1,600rpm |
| Muzzle velocity | 660m/s |
| Weight | 46kg |
| Overall length | 1,978mm |
| Barrel length | ?mm |
Small movie of GSh-301 in action.
GSh-301 30mm cannon
Designation stands for Gryazev-Shipunov 30mm, single-barrel.
This gun is currently produced by Izhmash JSC, a Russian company which can trace back its origins as far as 1807. Its design is based on the highly successful 30mm 2A42 cannon used in the BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle. It is a single-barrel gun with an ammunition feed mechanism capable of receiving the ammo from left or right side.
Among the aircraft types the GSh-301 is currently used are the MiG-29, the Su-27, Su-33, Su-34, Su-35 and Su-37. During its operational testing, the GSh-301 obviously had some teething problems. In air-to-air firing the gun is reported to have jammed after firing just four to six rounds - but this was always enough to bring the target down!
Deputy General Designer Valdenberg of the MiG-29 stated that had he had known that this gun was so accurate, he would have specified only half the ammunition load and saved the weight. The GSh-301 usually fires Type 9-A-4002 high-explosive fragmentation/incendiary and Type 9-A-4511 armor-piercing tracer rounds from the AO-18 ammunition family.
