Rotary cannon

A rapid-fire cannon with multiple barrels arranged around a rotating axis. Rotation cycles each barrel through loading, firing, and extraction, allowing sustained firing at high rates.

Ammunition feed system: A mechanism that moves ammunition from storage into a firearm or gun's loading position. The cannon's firing rate depends on reliably feeding rounds into successive barrels.
Close-in weapon system: An automated short-range weapon system designed to detect and engage incoming threats. Naval systems such as Phalanx use a rotary cannon for last-ditch defense.
Autocannon: A rapid-firing automatic cannon that fires shells larger than those of a machine gun. Rotary cannon is a multi-barrel design within the broader class of automatic cannon.
Richard Jordan Gatling: An American inventor best known for patenting the Gatling gun in 1862. His rotating-barrel firearm supplied the design lineage for later rotary cannon.
Rate of fire: The number of rounds a weapon can discharge in a given period, usually expressed in rounds per minute. Rotary cannon are distinguished by firing rates that exceed many single-barrel designs.
Recoil-operated mechanism: A firearm operating system that uses energy from recoil to cycle its action. Unlike many rotary cannons, recoil-operated guns cycle through movement of the weapon's action.
Phalanx CIWS: A shipboard close-in weapon system combining radar tracking with a 20 mm M61 rotary cannon. It shows how a rotary cannon can be integrated into an autonomous defensive mount.
Single-barrel autocannon: An automatic cannon that cycles ammunition through one barrel and one firing mechanism. It can be simpler and lighter, but usually has a lower maximum firing rate.
Gatling gun: A hand-cranked or powered firearm with multiple rotating barrels that cycle through loading, firing, and extraction. It is the nineteenth-century predecessor from which rotary cannon developed.
Ammunition consumption: The rate at which a weapon expends its available ammunition during firing. Very high firing rates can empty a limited ammunition supply within seconds.

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