Sorry for restarting the gun discussion again but could a gun be installed in the side bay and hung out like the missile?
Recoil and weight are issues.
Although the gun it's self can be pretty light weight compared to a missile. The Gsh 23L is only 50 kg a little over half the weight of the PL10 missile at 89kg (That being the missile used in the side bay)
But.... That's just the gun. You have to have ammunition and a feed system that means a full gun pod as flex mounting on the rail seems more trouble than it's worth.
Fortunately such pods do exist albeit built by the Soviets for the Mig 23.
The UPK 23. It's 3.2 meters long which is longer than the PL10 missile at 3 meters. But its also 218 kg. It packs 250 rounds.
Now I am sure the Chinese could probably shave some weight off that with a modern pod. Although I chose the UPK 23 because it is already light compared to the larger SPPU 22 but given the size restraints and unnessisary angling feature UPK would be the better pick.
However that weight is an issue.
Farther more there is recoil.
Unlike the fixed mounts intended for most gunpods the J20 internal hard points are not has ridged.
Recoil Is what Newton was talking about when he said equal but opposite reaction.
A gun like an Ak47 when firing has a thrust to weight ration of greater then one meaning it can actually fly.
Now the pod is heavy but on a flex mounting and firing at 3000 rpm.
That is not likely to have a nice effect on the hard point. And if it goes out of alignment it becomes a question on if the weapon can even be pulled in.
Basically it doesn't seem practical. A external hard point would seem better suited for a gun pod.
