Red Queen

Red King and Red Queen were experimental revolver cannon anti-aircraft guns developed for the British Army during the 1950s. Red King was a two-barrel design from Oerlikon, Red Queen was a single-barrel water-cooled design. The project was cancelled with the introduction of the Bofors 40 mm/L70, which became the standard anti-aircraft gun for the Army until it was replaced by the Rapier missile in the 1970s. History Red King In the late 1940s the British Army began the process of replacing their Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun guns. The introduction of higher-performance aircraft, especially jet-powered fighter-bombers and light bombers, proved to fly so fast that they exited the effective range of the Bofors before it could get enough rounds out to have a reasonable possibility of hitting the target. A gun with higher ballistic performance would increase the range, and thus reaction time, and a much higher firing rate was also desirable.