Howdy ryan1978-ga,
To figure this out we have to reference the Military Standards
document MIL-STD-875A, Type Designation System for Aeronautical
and Support Equipment. The following PDF file is rather large,
so it might take some type to download.
http://combatindex.com/mil_docs/pdf/std/0800/MIL-STD-875A.pdf
As with things military, we have to attack the GAU designator
in reverse, so first, the letter U, as noted on Page 5 of the
above document.
"4.1.10 Unit (- - U -) ... The unit designation will be similar
to the component designation, except the third letter will be U
..."
Let us proceed to the GA portion, which shows up on Page 39.
"GA Guns, Aircraft"
Put it all together, and we get: Guns, Aircraft Unit
A mundane explanation, but the military has rarely been known
as a creative bunch, at least when it comes to standards.
If you need any clarification, please feel free to ask.
Search strategy:
Google Groups search on: "GAU-8" "stand for"
http://groups.google.com/groups/search?q=%22GAU-8%22+%22stand+for%22
Google search on: "MIL-STD-875"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22MIL-STD-875%22
Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher |
