Miniguns, FN Mags fit for a Queen (VIDEOS)

The Royal Navy this week released footage of the largest British warship to ever take to the seas testing out some of her onboard weapons systems.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth is a massive (for the UK) 65,000-ton aircraft carrier second only in size to the U.S. Navy’s own flattops and on par with the Russian Kuznetsov and Chinese Liaoning. While her airwing is currently in what could be termed a “transitional” status and U.S. Marine F-35s will deploy on her until the Brits get their own, she does have a smattering of Phalanx CIWS robo-guns, some 30mm chain guns, and a dozen or so smaller mounts, which are shown at work in the above clip.

There’s lots of gratuitous footage of QE’s M134 GAU-17 miniguns, dubbed the MK 44 in British service, as they spit out 7.62mm NATO at up to 4,000 rounds per minute in addition to L7A2 general-purpose machine guns — the British variant of the classic FN MAG. Both are installed on the big carrier to ward off pesky interlopers such as Johnny Jihad in a rubber boat and curious frogmen poking their heads up.

Also note that the Brits seem to be fans of EOTech holographic weapon sights.

Disappointed you didn’t get to see a CIWS? Here is one below to make up for it, mounted on the Royal Navy amphibious dock HMS Albion. Brrrt…Brrrt…Brrrt.

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