[Klemm]

Is it compact enough to be mounted in a fighter?

Here is the German Wiki site for the weapon, it is the one with the most information: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_213
Our German members should be able to read it, nevertheless here are some translated sections:

20-mm-MG213C:

* Calibre: 20 x 146 mm
* Weight: 75 kg; installed weight 96 kg
* Length of the weapon: 1930 mm
* length of barrel: 1600 mm
* rate of fire: 1200 - 1400 rounds/min. ~21 rounds/sec.
* muzzle velocity: 1050 m/sec.

30-mm-MK213C:

* Calibre: 30 x 146 mm
* Weight: 75 kg; installed weight 96 kg
* Length of the weapon: 1630 mm
* length of barrel: 1300 mm
* rate of fire: 1000 - 1200 Schuss/min. (ca. 19 rounds/sec.)
* muzzle velocity: 530 m/sec.

As you can see, the weapon is relatively light for such destructive firepower, and here is some data of the MK 103 in comparison:

* calibre: 30 mm
* length: 2318 mm
* weight: 146 kg
* ROF: 440 rounds/min
* muzzle velocity: 860 m/sec


Heck, they even mounted that thing (the MK 103) in the FW 190A. The only problem i see is the length of the MG/MK 213, but the weapons are mounted beside the cockpit in most jet fighters anyway, so this shouldn't really be a problem.

Searching through the Luft 46 website, i found a nice pic in which you can compare the MK 108 with the MK 213 nicely:


I hope that was convincing enough.

[EDIT] I just saw that the pic looks shitty on this board, here is the original URL: http://www.luft46.com/horten/hox-2.gif