By the early 1950s, the newly formed US Air Force realized that the speed of new jet fighters had made conventional gas or recoil-operated machine guns or cannon obsolete. The General Electric Company was approached to produce a new fast-firing gun under the project name "Vulcan". Multi-barrelled weapons seemed a promising research path, since between shots the barrels would have time to cool. In trials, 19th-century Gatlings were fitted with electrical drive instead of the manually operated crank. No longer reliant on muscle power, the gun had a staggering rate of fire of about 4,000 rounds per minute.
US soldiers on exercise in West Germany in the 1980s with a M161 Vulcan air defence system. The high rate of fire would be lethal against helicopters and low-flying ground attack aircraft.
Further development resulted in some experimental, electrically driven, six barrelled .60-calibre machine guns, and in 1956, the six-barrelled 20mm T171 gun was officially adopted as the M61 aircraft gun capable of 4,000-6,000 rpm. M61 became the main aircraft gun for USAF fighters, and is also used by the US Army on the M161 and M163 Vulcan ground anti-aircraft gun mounts. The US Navy
also returned to the Gatling with the Vulcan-Phalanx CIWS (Close-in Weapon System) designed to shred fast sea-skimming anti-ship missiles.
Further development resulted in some experimental, electrically driven, six barrelled .60-calibre machine guns, and in 1956, the six-barrelled 20mm T171 gun was officially adopted as the M61 aircraft gun capable of 4,000-6,000 rpm. M61 became the main aircraft gun for USAF fighters, and is also used by the US Army on the M161 and M163 Vulcan ground anti-aircraft gun mounts. The US Navy
also returned to the Gatling with the Vulcan-Phalanx CIWS (Close-in Weapon System) designed to shred fast sea-skimming anti-ship missiles.
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