MG 151 (20 mm)

Description

Converted from the 15 mm MG 151/15 cannon to a 20 mm after combat evaluation proved a larger high-explosive shell to be more effective than a high-velocity shell.

General info

Available ammunition

Aircraft

• Default: IT · IT · APHE · HEI
• Universal: IT · HEI · HEI · AP-I
• Air targets: AP-I · HEI · HEI · HEI · HEI · IT
• Armored targets: APHE · APHE · APHE · IT
• Tracers: FI-T · FI-T · FI-T · IT · IT
• Stealth: HEI · HEI · HEI · APHE · AP-I

• Default (turret): IT · HEI · APHE
• Armored targets (turret): AP-I · AP-I · APHE · IT
• Universal (turret): IT · HEI · HEI

Penetration statistics
Belt	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
Default	19	17	13	6	6	6
Universal	25	24	16	7	3	3
Air targets	25	24	16	7	3	3
Armored targets	19	17	13	6	6	6
Tracers	15	13	8	6	6	6
Stealth	25	24	16	7	3	3
Default (turret)	19	17	13	6	6	6
Armored targets (turret)	21	17	13	6	6	6
Universal (turret)	15	13	8	6	6	6

Tanks

• Default: HEFI-T · AP-I

Penetration statistics
Belt	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
Default	26	24	17	11	7	5

Ships

• Universal: HEFI-T · API-T · API-T
• 20 mm HE belts: HEFI-T · HEFI-T · HEFI-T · API-T
• 20 mm AP belts: API-T · API-T · API-T · HEFI-T

Penetration statistics
Belt	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
Universal	26	24	19	15	13	11
20 mm HE belts	26	24	19	15	13	11
20 mm AP belts	26	24	19	15	13	11

Comparison with analogues

• Hispano Mk.I (20 mm) Hispano Mk.II (20 mm)
• Hispano 404 (20 mm)
• AN/M2 (20 mm)
• ShVAK (20 mm)

Usage in battles

This weapon is very dangerous to air targets due to the minengeschoß shell, which makes the MG 151/20 arguably the best 20 mm cannon against air targets. Unless other ammunition is needed for a specific reason, always choose the ammo belt with most minengeschoß available.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Minengeschoß shell (an improved HEI shell) provides a lot of hitting power against aircraft
• Larger ammo count than the other German 20 mm cannons
• Higher muzzle velocity than the other German 20 mm cannons
• Faster firing and less prone to jamming than the Allied Hispano variants

Cons:

• Still lower muzzle velocity compared to most machine guns
• Ineffective against armoured ground targets, even with APHE shells
• Tracer and HEI (Minengeschoß) have slightly different trajectories which reiterate knowing your ammunition

History

Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />.

Media

Videos

Top 7 Autocannons discusses the MG 151 (20 mm) at 03:33 - War Thunder Official Channel

See also

• MG 151/15 (15 mm) - Gun from which the MG 151/20 cannon was adapted

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.

Sweden aircraft cannons
20 mm	Akan m/41A · Akan m/45 · Akan m/47B · Akan m/47C · Akan m/49 · Oerlikon FF
27 mm	Akan m/85
30 mm	Akan m/55 · Akan m/75
57 mm	Akan m/47
	Foreign:
20 mm	MG FF (Germany) · MG 151 (Germany)
23 mm	GSh-23L (USSR)
30 mm	2A42 (USSR) · M230E-1 (USA) · MK 108 (Germany)