Gun pod A gun pod is a detachable pod or pack containing machine gun s or automatic cannon and ancillaries , mounted externally on a vehicle such as a military aircraft which may or may not also have its own guns . A gun pod typically contains one or more guns , a supply of ammunition , and , if necessary , a power source . Electrically powered cannon , such as the M61 Vulcan , may be powered from the aircraft ' s electrical system or by a ram - air turbine . Gun pods increase a vehicle ' s firepower without occupying internal volume . When not required for a specific mission they can be omitted to save weight . On some vehicles they isolate delicate internal components such as radar from the weapon ' s recoil and gases , and for jet aircraft allow the weapons to be mounted away from the intakes of the engines , reducing problems of gun - gas ingestion , which may cause the engine to stall . When designed to be suspension - mounted on a hardpoint on a typical post - WW II aircraft , gun pods are inherently less accurate than integral guns , or the type of " conformal " gun pods that are faired smoothly into or onto the nearby surfaces of an aircraft , because the " hardpoint " mounting is necessarily less rigid , so that the weapon ' s recoil produces more deflection . This problem is particularly acute with powerful cannon like the 30mm GPU - 5 gun pod . Both hardpoint - mounted and conformal - mount gun pods also cause substantial drag on fast - moving vehicles such as fighter aircraft . Gun pods are commonly carried on military helicopter s , and are often fitted to light aircraft to equip them for counter - insurgency operations . Some air arms use gun pods for fighter bombers for use in strafing attacks . Since the Vietnam War , United States Air Force policy has been that the use of multi - million dollar aircraft for strafing is not economically justified , but the Soviet Union , and subsequently Russia , have remained proponents of strafing , and have continued to develop systems for this purpose . Soviet experience in Afghanistan in the 1980s led to an unusual innovation in the form of the SPPU series of gun pods , which have traversable barrels allowing them to continue to fire on a fixed target as the aircraft passes overhead . In World War II the Third Reich ' s Luftwaffe made use of many different , and most often rigidly mounted , conformal and suspended - mount gun pod systems usually called " Waffenbehälter " ( prefix of " WB " , literally ' weapon container ' ) or " Waffenträger " ( prefix of " WT " , literally ' weapon carrier ' ) , and carrying anything from rifle caliber MG 81 machine gun s , all the way up to the enormous " Bordkanone " anti - tank cannon based ordnance weapon series , ranging from 37 to 75mm in caliber , though the usual underwing conformal gun pods fitted to Bf 109 and Fw 190 single engined fighters used either the MG 151 / 20 or MK 108 in gun pod mounts . Common Gun Pods . US . GPU - 2 / A : Gun pod with M197 cannon . GPU - 5 / A : Gun pod with GAU - 13 / A cannon . M18 / SUU - 11 / A : Gun pod with M134 / GAU - 2 / A machine gun . M12 / SUU - 16 / A : Gun pod with M61A1 cannon . M25 / SUU - 23 / A : Gun pod with GAU - 4 / A cannon . For more info see : USSR / Russia . GUV - 8700 Gun Pod ( 9A624 ) 2x GshG 7 . 62mm & 1x Yak - B 12 . 7mm GUV - 8700 Gun Pod ( 9A669 ) , as above , plus 2x AGS - 17 30mm automatic grenade launcher in the same pod . UPK - 23 - 250 Gun Pod GSh - 23L twin barreled 23mm SPPU - 22 Depressible Gun Pod GSh - 23L twin barreled 23mm SPPU - 6 Fully Mobile Gun Pod GSh - 6 - 23 six barreled 23mm SPPU - 687 Depressible Gun Pod ( 9A - 4273 ) GSh - 30 - 1 high velocity 30mm ( prototype ) In fiction . Gunpods are a mainstay in many science fiction franchises , especially in anime mecha shows . In Macross , many transformable vehicles have gunpods that detach and can be held in the mecha ' s robotic hand . Such gunpods may look like gigantic assault rifles . In the video game " Einhänder " , the player ' s fighter was equipped with a manipulator arm capable of picking up gunpods from destroyed enemies .