30x150mm, also commonly called "Short 30," is ADB's premier autocannon ammunition. The design of the round reflects an intent to balance a fairly powerful cartridge capable of dealing with light- and medium-armored surface targets alongside clustered unarmored targets, while also carrying large amounts of ammunition and not taking up too much weight or space overall. It largely does so, albeit at the expense of muzzle energy, though it should be noted that it's quite debatable if the goal for "low weight" has been achieved as effectively as ADB likes to brag.
Design
The 30x150mm cartridge is most immediately recognizable for its usage of a telescoped design. The round is recessed into a relatively broad, externally cylindrical case, which means less overall length. This is augmented by a polymer-cased design, which reduces weight, allows for more controlled internal shaping compared to traditional metals to squeeze in additional propellant, and plays a role in facilitating extraction by offering reduced friction as the case is straight-walled and otherwise could face difficulty in that regard. The path the propellant must take does cost it some efficiency, and paired with a small amount of it overall, contribute to a lackluster muzzle velocity.
The cartridge still leaves with sufficient energy that specialized AP variants of the projectile can cut through armor on vehicles as armored as IFVs and their ilk, as well as moderately fortified structures, which combined with the generally large amount of ammunition carried, plays to ADB's doctrine of using strafing runs to opportunistically harass relatively undefended or isolated targets, while not investing too much into trying to defeat heavier classes of armor as seen on proper tanks. On other, lighter targets, such as trucks, MRAPs, infantry, and aircraft, the sheer amount of payload a shell can fit comes into play. HEHC shells can be tremendously powerful against formations of such targets caught in the open or on unarmored structures, and more intermediate SAPHE is good enough at both to perforate light aircraft and light surface armor and deal severe structural damage through their detonation.
Application
While ADB has apparently been quite satisfied with the performance of this cartridge and their line of weapons chambered in it, it has not been without complaints from their customers. In particular, ADB was more or less forced to develop the 20x200mm high-velocity cartridge to meet the demands of customers for improved performance against aircraft and missiles at longer ranges as SHORAD and CIWS- roles ADB tends to fill with lasers and missiles, leaving a notable gap in the form of the so-called "Short 30"'s poor ballistic performance among customers seeking a more conventional autocannon, many making slightly hyperbolic remarks of the 30mm seeming almost grenade-like in performance, requiring large amounts of lead and superelevation to hit targets at range.
This poor velocity is compounded by most of the weapons firing it exhibiting wide dispersion, which would be made up for by the firing rates the offer if they actually offered those firing rates- the mainstay RAC-30-3 "Ferrovore" has a firing rate of just about 60% of what smaller rotary cannons can achieve, which is still a lot, to be fair, but can result in cases where, between poor accuracy and low saturation, the attacker might simply fail to land a significant amount of hits on target even if they do everything right. Collateral damage is also an admitted issue, and users are known to avoid making use of their cannons while firing immediately close to friendlies. This is partially offset by being able to turn down the firing rate, which is observed to decrease vibrations within the weapon and reduce dispersion, but, again, firerate is already lacking.
Likewise, while "manageable" weight was a design goal, like a lot of ADB's works, "manageable" weight does not mean "low" weight. To an extent this is offset by a tendency to carry weapons such as the RAC-30-3 in pods, meaning the weight can be shed in favor of an all-missile armament in many cases or mounted for opportunistic strafing at a moment's notice. However, it's exacerbated by the fact that the doctrine ADB pursues tends to require a lot of ammunition, meaning that the more modest ammunition drums of contemporary weapons have been traded for drums of hundreds of still rather large rounds.
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