AMR-June-July-2013

N A V A L
ANTI-SURFACE WARFARE
rates; 650-700 rd/min for Oerlikon 30mm
and 300 rd/min for Bofors 40mmL/70, as
well as longer ranges up to 3.2 nautical
miles (6 kilometres) for an Oerlikon (with
extended range ammunition) and 6.75
nautical mile (12.5 kilometres) for the
Bofors. One of the most unusual Asian
gun mountings is the Indian Ordnance
Factory’s CRN-91 Sarath based upon the
turret of the Russian-designed BMP-2
infantry combat vehicle with 30mm gun.
It has been navalised for the Indian Navy
and Coast Guard in patrol boats as well as
the Magar class tank landing ships.
The older weapons are manned but
there is a tendency towards unmanned
mountings with Oto Melara producing
the widest range in both with single and
twin calibre mountings in use with half-adozen
navies while 40mm mountings
have been made in South Korea and
Singapore. Bofors enhanced their
weapon through the 3P (Prefragmented,
Programmable Proximity) rounds which
may be set to impact, post-impact or proximity
settings before being fired. BAE
Systems Weapon Systems and Support
are completing development of the Bofors
40mm Mark 4 gun system which incorporates
technology from the Mark 3 (bought
by Brazil and Japan) as well as weapons
used in the CV90 infantry combat vehicle.
The objective is to cut the weight, cost and
volume of the Mark 3 mounting by at least
The holy grail of modern naval guns is a
155mm mounting. BAE Systems developed
one based upon the 4.5 inch Mark 8 but the
financial crisis means development was
abandoned. This is an artist's impression of
the mounting in service © BAE Systems
The Saab RBS 15 is another anti-ship missile
which is associated with fast attack craft
© Saab Bofors Dynamics
40 per cent so that it could fit into smaller
vessels to broaden the market.
The mounting is available with remote
and manual control and weighs 2.3 tonnes
unloaded compared with 4 tonnes for the
Mark 3 and it is only 1.99 metres high and
2.14 metres wide. It is deck-mounted with
70-round reloadable magazine in the 1.845
metre diameter mounting ring to augment
the 30 rounds in the mounting. The
70 calibre weapon can fire 300
rounds/minute up to 6.75 nautical miles
(12.5 kilometres) and should be available
to customers early in 2014 and the company
plan to offer packages with electrooptical
directors.
There is a growing tendency towards
mountings which are compatible with several
guns. One is Rafael’s Typhoon which
can carry seven different models, and with
on-mount electro-optics is produced by
BAE Systems in the United States as the US
Navy’s Mk 38 Mod 1 (unmanned) and Mod
2 (unmanned) with 25mm Bushmaster gun.
Typhoon is used by six Asian navies. BAE
Systems Land and Armaments, which produces
the mounting under licence, revealed
at Euronaval in October a mock-up of a
Mod 3 version with 25mm or 30mm Mark
44 Bushmaster II. The mounting, with onboard
electro-optical director as in Mod 2, is
being developed in anticipation of a
requirement for a 30mm gun to equip the
Littoral Combat Ship with a formal requirement
anticipated this year. The elevating
mass and most of the barrel are fully
enclosed with a shaped housing and, compared
with the 1.04 tonnes unloaded
weight of the Mod 2, the new mounting,
which will also be marketed for export and
can accept coaxial machinegun, will have
unloaded weights of 1.35 tonnes with
30mm gun and 1.28 tonnes with 25mm. The
Oto Melara Model 504 Marlin, for example,
accepts 30mm and 25mm weapons as does
MSI’s Seahawk family, and the AAW capability
of the latter is enhanced with shortrange
Thales LML surface-to-air missiles.
Remotely operated and stabilised
mountings, such as Nexter’s Narwhal
20mm gun family and MSI-Defence
Systems’ Seahawk 20 are becoming available
to provide even greater versatility.
Narwhal has a mass of 350-400 kilogrammes,
an on-mount director with
optional laser rangefinder and plans for
25mm and 30mm versions. Seahawk has
been developed for the retrofit market
and while based upon the Denel G12
20mm it can take any 20mm weapon
allowing the continued use of stocks of
20mm x 139 ammunition.
While the gun’s importance in ASuW is
much smaller than it was it still remains
important with the smaller calibre
weapons also being valuable in the field
of EEZ protection where collateral damage
can be politically unacceptable.
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