An electrically driven rotary machine gun includes a drive motor, a feeder delinker, a clutch, and a gun control unit. The drive motor is configured to rotate a rotor of the gun when receiving power. The feeder delinker is configured to provide ammunition cartridges to the rotor while being rotated. The rotor fires the ammunition cartridges while receiving them from the feeder delinker and being rotated by the drive motor. The clutch is configured to selectively engage the rotor and the feeder delinker while actuated. The gun control unit is configured to receive input from a user and provide power to the drive motor as a function of the input received from the user while and to actuate the clutch while providing power to the drive motor. The gun control unit includes a battery to eliminate the necessity of an external power supply.