The M195 was a short-barreled 20 mm Vulcan-family automatic gun adapted for the AH-1G Cobra's XM35/M35 side-mounted helicopter armament subsystem. U.S. Army and General Electric program records tie the gun to 1968-1970 XM35 testing and production qualification, while Vietnam-unit accounts and Army historical material place the M35 installation on AH-1G Cobras used for long-range suppressive fire and escort/fire-support missions.
U.S. Army AH-1G Cobras used the M35 subsystem with the M195 20 mm cannon in the Vietnam War from late 1969, including long-range suppressive-fire use in South Vietnam, 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Cambodia operations in May-June 1970, Lam Son 719 in January 1971, and 1972 196th Assault Support Helicopter and B Troop, 2/17th Air Cavalry examples.
The public record for the M195 is unusually tied to the complete XM35/M35 subsystem. NTIS indexes a 1970 General Electric final report covering the subsystem from military-potential testing to qualification of the first production-type units, and a 1969 Army preliminary evaluation tested the AH-1G Huey Cobra with the XM35 20 mm automatic gun in flight, firing, and stability contexts. That record supports treating the M195 as a helicopter installation within the Cobra weapon package, not only as a loose aircraft cannon.
March 1968 through September 1970 in the NTIS-indexed General Electric final report.
AH-1G Huey Cobra equipped with the XM35 armament subsystem.
GlobalSecurity describes the M195 as Standard B, with more than 377 units built.
The M195's catalog identity is tied to the XM35/M35 helicopter installation rather than to a loose aircraft-cannon designation. Chinn describes the gun as a short-barreled M61A1-family Vulcan mounted on the AH-1 Cobra's left inboard station, while Redstone Arsenal and GlobalSecurity identify the AH-1G as the helicopter carrying the port-side M195/M35 installation. Aircav's M35 page shows the side-mounted gun, ammunition containers, and protective plating around the installation.
Port-side fixed M35 subsystem on the AH-1G Cobra.
Linked 20 mm ammunition carried in side containers, with Chinn and GlobalSecurity listing 950 rounds for the system.
Vietnam accounts describe the installation as a long-range suppressive-fire answer to heavy machine guns and other anti-aircraft threats; Osprey adds 1971-1972 examples where M195-equipped Cobras were used during Lam Son 719 and against vehicles.
The M195 belongs to the 20 mm Vulcan gun family but was a short-barreled AH-1G helicopter-gun adaptation. The linked rows distinguish its M61A1 parent family from the later three-barrel M197 helicopter gun.
| Variant | Configuration | Designation notes |
|---|---|---|
 | Six-barrel aircraft-gun parent family | Chinn describes the M195 as the same basic Vulcan M61A1 gun except for short barrels and different recoil-adapter settings. |
 | Three-barrel helicopter and turret Vulcan-family gun | Chinn distinguishes the later M197 as a three-barrel M61A1-family gun for Cobra turret and pod systems, while the M195 was the short-barreled AH-1G/XM35 gun. |
Chinn's General Electric section states that the AH-1 Cobra XM35 system with the M195 went into production at General Electric in 1969, while NTIS identifies General Electric's Burlington aircraft-equipment division as the corporate author of the XM35 final report.
Sources: The Machine Gun Volume V | Internet Archive, XM-35 Research and Development Program | NTRL
A U.S. Army Aviation Systems Test Activity report evaluated the AH-1G Huey Cobra with the XM35 20 mm automatic-gun subsystem through firing and stability-and-control tests.
Sources: AH-1G XM35 Preliminary Evaluation | Internet Archive
NTIS describes the General Electric final report as covering XM35 research and development from the March 1968 military-potential test phase through first production-unit qualification in September 1970.
Sources: XM-35 Research and Development Program | NTRL
The Centaurs unit-history page places introduction of the M35 armament system in Vietnam in late December 1969.
Sources: 20mm Cannon | Centaurs in Vietnam
The same unit-history account describes AH-1G 69-16439 configured with the M35 and operating with the 17th Cavalry in Cambodia during May and June 1970.
Sources: 20mm Cannon | Centaurs in Vietnam
Osprey's AH-1G armament article states that some Cobras used M195 cannon installations during Lam Son 719 in January 1971.
Sources: AH-1 Cobra Gunship | Osprey Publishing
Osprey documents 20 mm-equipped AH-1Gs with the 196th Assault Support Helicopter unit in January 1972 and B Troop, 2/17th Air Cavalry M195 vehicle missions in summer 1972.
Sources: AH-1 Cobra Gunship | Osprey Publishing
