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During the Second World War, Fried.Krupp AG, in cooperation with many dozens, if not hundreds, of other German firms manufactured two 800-mm railway artillery mounts, known as Dora and Schwerer Gus-tav 2. They are the largest artillery pieces throughout the history of mankind and are unlikely to ever lose this title.
The creation of these monsters was largely provoked by pre-war French propaganda, which colorfully described the power and impregnability of the defenses of the Maginot line, built on the border between France and Germany. Since German Chancellor A. Hitler planned to cross this border sooner or later, he needed appropriate artillery systems to crush the border fortifications.
In 1936, during one of his visits to Fried.Krupp AG, he asked what should be a weapon capable of destroying the control bunker on the Maginot line, the existence of which he had learned shortly before from reports in the French press.
The calculations presented to him soon showed that in order to break through a seven-meter-thick reinforced concrete floor and a meter-long steel slab, an armor-piercing projectile weighing about seven tons was needed, which assumed the presence of a barrel with a caliber of about 800 mm.
Since the shooting had to be carried out from a distance of 35000-45000 m, in order not to fall under the blows of enemy artillery, the projectile had to have a very high initial velocity, which is impossible without a long barrel. A gun with a caliber of 800 mm with a long barrel, according to the calculations of German engineers, could not weigh less than 1000 tons.
Knowing A. Hitler’s craving for gigantic projects, the Fried.Krupp AG firms were not surprised when, “at the urgent request of the Fuhrer,” the Wehrmacht Arms Department asked them to develop and manufacture two guns with the characteristics presented in the calculations, and to ensure the necessary mobility, it was proposed place it on the rail transporter.
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800 mm gun 80 cm K. (E) on a railway transporter |
Work on the realization of the Fuhrer's wishes was started in 1937 and carried out very intensively. But due to the difficulties that arose when creating, first of all, the gun barrel, the first shots from it were fired at an artillery range only in September 1941, when the German troops dealt with both France and its “impregnable” Maginot line.
Nevertheless, work on the creation of a heavy-duty artillery mount continued, and in November 1941, the gun was no longer fired from a temporary carriage mounted at the training ground, but from a regular railway transporter. In January 1942, the creation of an 800-mm railway artillery mount was completed - it entered service with the specially formed 672nd artillery battalion.
The name Dora was assigned to the gunners of this division. It is believed that it came from an abbreviation of the expression douner und doria - "damn it!", which everyone who saw this monster for the first time involuntarily exclaimed.
Like all railway artillery installations, Dora consisted of the gun itself and the railway transporter. The length of the gun barrel was 40.6 calibers (32.48 m!), The length of the rifled part of the barrel was about 36.2 calibers. The barrel bore was locked by a wedge gate equipped with a hydraulic drive with a crank.
The survivability of the barrel was estimated at 100 shots, but in practice, after the first 15 shots, signs of wear began to be detected. The mass of the gun was 400,000 kg.
In accordance with the purpose of the gun, an armor-piercing projectile weighing 7100 kg was developed.
It contained “only” 250.0 kg of explosives, but its walls were 18 cm thick, and the massive head was hardened.
This projectile was guaranteed to penetrate an eight-meter ceiling and a meter-long steel plate, after which the bottom fuse detonated the explosive charge, thus completing the destruction of the enemy bunker.
The initial speed of the projectile was 720 m / s, due to the presence of a ballistic tip made of aluminum alloy on it, the firing range was 38,000 m.
High-explosive shells weighing 4800 kg were also fired to the cannon. Each such projectile contained 700 kg of explosives and was equipped with both a head and a bottom fuse, which made it possible to use it as an armor-piercing high-explosive projectile. When fired with a full charge, the projectile developed an initial velocity of 820 m/s and could hit a target at a distance of 48,000 m.
The propellant charge consisted of a charge in a cartridge case weighing 920 kg and two cartridge charges weighing 465 kg each. The rate of fire of the gun was 3 rounds per hour.
Due to the large size and weight of the gun, the designers had to design a unique railway transporter that occupied two parallel railway tracks at once.
On each track there was one of the parts of the conveyor, which in design resembled the conveyor of a conventional railway artillery installation: a welded box-shaped main beam on two balancers and four five-axle railway carts.
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Thus, each of these parts of the conveyor could move independently along the railway tracks, and their connection with transverse box-shaped beams was carried out only at the firing position.
After assembling the conveyor, which was essentially the lower machine tool, an upper machine was installed on it with a cradle with an anti-recoil system, which included two hydraulic recoil brakes and two knurlers.
Following this, the gun barrel was mounted and the loading platform was assembled. In the tail section of the platform, two electrically driven lifts were installed to supply shells and charges from the railway track to the platform.
The lifting mechanism placed on the machine had an electric drive. It provided guidance of the gun in the vertical plane in the range of angles from 0° to +65°.
There were no mechanisms for horizontal aiming: railway tracks were built in the direction of firing, onto which the entire installation was then rolled. At the same time, shooting could only be carried out strictly parallel to these paths - any deviation threatened to turn the installation over under the influence of a huge recoil force.
Taking into account the unit for generating electricity for all electric drives of the installation, its mass was 135,000 kg.
For the transportation and maintenance of the Dora installation, a set of technical means was developed, which included a power train, a service train, an ammunition train, handling equipment and several technical flights - up to 100 locomotives and wagons with a staff of several hundred people. The total mass of the complex was 4925100 kg.
Formed for the combat use of the installation, the 672nd artillery battalion of 500 people consisted of several units, the main of which were headquarters and firing batteries. The headquarters battery included computing groups that made all the calculations necessary for aiming at the target, as well as a platoon of artillery observers, in which, in addition to conventional means (theodolites, stereotubes), infrared technology, new for that time, was also used.
In February 1942, the Dora railway artillery was placed at the disposal of the commander of the 11th Army, who was tasked with capturing Sevastopol.
A group of staff officers flew to the Crimea in advance and chose a firing position for a gun in the area of the village of Duvankoy. For the engineering preparation of the position, 1,000 sappers and 1,500 workers were forcibly mobilized from among the local residents.
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Projectile and charge in the sleeve of the 800-mm gun K. (E) |
The protection of the position was assigned to a guard company of 300 fighters, as well as a large group of military police and a special team with guard dogs.
In addition, there was a reinforced military chemical unit of 500 people, designed to set up a smoke screen for camouflage from the air, and a reinforced air defense artillery battalion of 400 people. The total number of personnel involved in servicing the installation was more than 4,000 people.
The preparation of the firing position, located at a distance of about 20 km from the defensive structures of Sevastopol, ended in the first half of 1942. At the same time, a special access road 16 km long had to be laid from the main railway line. After the completion of the preparatory work, the main parts of the installation were submitted to the position and its assembly began, which lasted a week. When assembling, two cranes with diesel engines with a capacity of 1000 hp were used.
The combat use of the installation did not give the results that the Wehrmacht command had hoped for: only one successful hit was recorded, which caused an explosion of an ammunition depot located at a depth of 27 m. In other cases, a cannon shell, penetrating into the ground, pierced a round barrel with a diameter of about 1 m and up to 12 m deep. At the base of the barrel, as a result of the explosion of a live charge, the soil was compacted and a drop-shaped cavity with a diameter of about 3 m was formed. several guns of smaller caliber.
After the capture of Sevastopol by German troops, the Dora installation was transported near Leningrad to the Taitsy station area. The same type of installation Schwerer Gustav 2 was also delivered here, the production of which was completed in early 1943.
After the beginning of the operation by the Soviet troops to break the blockade of Leningrad, both installations were evacuated to Bavaria, where in April 1945 they were blown up when American troops approached.
Thus ended the most ambitious project in the history of German and world artillery. However, given that only 48 shots were fired at the enemy out of both manufactured 800-mm railway artillery mounts, this project can also be considered the most grandiose mistake in planning the development of artillery.
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It is noteworthy that the Dora and Schwerer Gustav 2 installations are operated by Fried. Krupp AG did not limit itself to creating superguns.
In 1942, her project of the 520-mm Langer Gustav railway artillery mount appeared. The smoothbore gun of this installation had a length of 43 m (according to other sources - 48 m) and was supposed to fire active rockets developed at the Peenemünde research center. Firing range - over 100 km. In 1943, Minister of Armaments A. Speer reported the Langer Gustav project to the Fuhrer and received the go-ahead for its implementation. However, after a detailed analysis, the project was rejected: due to the monstrous weight of the barrel, it was not possible to create a conveyor for it, which, moreover, could withstand the loads that arise when fired.
At the end of the war, A. Hitler's headquarters also seriously discussed the project of placing the 800-mm Dora gun on a caterpillar conveyor. It is believed that the Fuhrer himself was the author of the idea of this project.
This monster was supposed to be driven by four diesel engines from submarines, and the calculation and main mechanisms were protected by 250 mm armor.
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Do you know what kind of troops are respectfully called the "god of war"? Of course, artillery! Despite the development over the past fifty years, the role of high-precision modern receiver systems is still extremely large.
The history of development
The "father" of guns is considered to be the German Schwartz, but many historians agree that his merits in this matter are rather doubtful. So, the first mention of the use of cannon artillery on the battlefield dates back to 1354, but there are many papers in the archives that mention the year 1324.
There is no reason to believe that some have not been used before. By the way, most references to such weapons can be found in old English manuscripts, and not at all in German primary sources. So, especially noteworthy in this regard is the rather well-known treatise "On the Duties of Kings", which was written to the glory of Edward III.
The author was a teacher to the king, and the book itself was written in 1326 (the time of Edward's assassination). There are no detailed explanations of the engravings in the text, and therefore one has to focus only on the subtext. So, one of the illustrations depicts, without a doubt, a real cannon, reminiscent of a large vase. It is shown how a large arrow flies out of the neck of this “jug”, shrouded in clouds of smoke, and a knight stands at a distance, having just set fire to gunpowder with a red-hot rod.
First appearance
As for China, in which, most likely, gunpowder was invented (and medieval alchemists discovered it three times, no less), that is, there is every reason to believe that the first artillery pieces could be tested even before the beginning of our era. Simply put, artillery, like all firearms, is probably much older than is commonly believed.
In the era, these tools were already massively used against the walls of which by that time they were no longer such an effective means of protection for the besieged.
chronic stagnation
So why did the ancient peoples not conquer the whole world with the help of the "god of war"? It's simple - cannons of the early 14th century. and 18th c. little different from each other. They were clumsy, unnecessarily heavy, and provided very poor accuracy. No wonder the first guns were used to destroy walls (it's hard to miss!), As well as to shoot at large concentrations of the enemy. In an era when enemy armies marched at each other in colorful columns, this also did not require high accuracy of cannons.
Do not forget about the disgusting quality of gunpowder, as well as its unpredictable properties: during the war with Sweden, Russian gunners sometimes had to triple the sample rate so that the cannonballs inflicted at least some damage on enemy fortresses. Of course, this fact reflected frankly badly on the reliability of the guns. There were many cases when nothing was left of the artillery crew as a result of a cannon explosion.
Other reasons
Finally, metallurgy. As in the case of steam locomotives, only the invention of rolling mills and deep research in the field of metallurgy provided the necessary knowledge to produce truly reliable barrels. The creation of artillery shells provided the troops with “monarchist” privileges on the battlefield for a long time.
Do not forget about the calibers of artillery pieces: in those years they were calculated both based on the diameter of the used cores and taking into account the parameters of the barrel. Incredible confusion reigned, and therefore the armies simply could not adopt something truly unified. All this greatly hindered the development of the industry.
The main varieties of ancient artillery systems
Now let's look at the main types of artillery pieces, which in many cases really helped to change history, refracting the course of the war in favor of one state. As of 1620, it was customary to distinguish between the following types of guns:
- Guns caliber from 7 to 12 inches.
- Periers.
- Falconets and minions ("falcons").
- Portable guns with breech loading.
- Robinets.
- Mortars and bombards.
This list displays only "true" guns in a more or less modern sense. But at that time, the army had a relatively large number of ancient cast-iron guns. The most typical of their representatives are culverins and semi-culverins. By that time, it had already become completely clear that the giant cannons, which were to a large extent common in earlier periods, were no good: their accuracy was disgusting, the risk of barrel explosion was extremely high, and it took a lot of time to reload.
If we turn again to the times of Peter, then the historians of those years note that hundreds of liters of vinegar were required for each battery of “unicorns” (a variety of kulevrin). It was used diluted with water to cool barrels overheated from shots.
Rarely found an ancient artillery piece with a caliber of more than 12 inches. The most commonly used culverins, the core of which weighed approximately 16 pounds (about 7.3 kg). In the field, falconets were very common, the core of which weighed only 2.5 pounds (about a kilogram). Now let's look at the types of artillery pieces that were common in the past.
Gun name | Barrel length (in calibers) | Projectile weight, kilogram | Approximate range of effective shooting (in meters) |
Musket | No defined standard | ||
Falconet | |||
sacra | |||
"Aspid" | |||
Standard cannon | |||
half-cannon | No defined standard | ||
Kulevrina (ancient artillery gun with a long barrel) | |||
"Half" culverin | |||
Serpentine | No data | ||
Bastard | No data | ||
stone thrower |
If you carefully looked through this table and saw a musket there, do not be surprised. so called not only those clumsy and heavy guns that we remember from films about musketeers, but also a full-fledged artillery gun with a long barrel of small caliber. After all, it is very problematic to imagine a “bullet” weighing 400 grams!
In addition, you should not be surprised at the presence of a stone thrower on the list. The fact is that, for example, the Turks, even in the time of Peter, used cannon artillery with might and main, firing cannonballs carved from stone. They were much less likely to pierce through enemy ships, but more often they caused serious damage to the latter from the very first salvo.
Finally, all the data that is given in our table is approximate. Many types of artillery pieces will remain forever forgotten, and ancient historians often did not understand the characteristics and names of those guns that were massively used during the siege of cities and fortresses.
Innovators-inventors
As we have already said, barrel artillery for many centuries was a weapon that, as it seemed, was forever frozen in its development. However, things quickly changed. As with many innovations in military affairs, the idea belonged to the officers of the fleet.
The main problem of cannon artillery on ships was the serious limitation of space, the difficulty of performing any maneuvers. Seeing all this, Mr. Melville and Mr. Gascoigne, who was in charge of his production, managed to create an amazing cannon, which historians today know as the "caronade". There were no trunnions (mounts for the gun carriage) on its trunk at all. But on it there was a small eye, into which a steel rod could be inserted easily and quickly. He firmly clung to the compact machine gun.
The gun turned out to be light and short, easy to handle. The approximate range of effective firing from it was about 50 meters. In addition, due to some of its design features, it became possible to fire shells with an incendiary mixture. "Caronade" became so popular that Gascoigne soon moved to Russia, where talented masters of foreign origin were always expected, received the rank of general and the position of one of Catherine's advisers. It was in those years that Russian artillery guns began to be developed and produced on a hitherto unseen scale.
Modern artillery systems
As we already noted at the very beginning of our article, in the modern world, artillery had to “make room” somewhat under the influence of rocket weapons. But this does not mean at all that there is no place left for the barrel and jet systems on the battlefield. By no means! The invention of high-precision GPS/GLONASS-guided projectiles makes it possible to state with certainty that the “natives” of the distant 12th-13th centuries will continue to keep the enemy at bay.
Barrel and rocket artillery: who is better?
Unlike traditional barrel systems, rocket launchers practically do not give tangible returns. This is what distinguishes them from any self-propelled or towed gun, which, in the process of being brought into a combat position, must be fixed and dug in as firmly as possible on the ground, since otherwise it may even tip over. Of course, there is no question of any quick change of position here, in principle, even if a self-propelled artillery gun is used.
Reactive systems are fast and mobile, they can change their combat position in a few minutes. In principle, such vehicles can fire even when moving, but this affects the accuracy of the shot badly. The disadvantage of such installations is their low accuracy. The same "Hurricane" can literally plow several square kilometers, destroying almost all living things, but this will require a whole battery of installations with rather expensive shells. These artillery pieces, photos of which you will find in the article, are especially loved by domestic developers ("Katyusha").
A volley of one howitzer with a "smart" projectile is capable of destroying anyone in one attempt, while a battery of rocket launchers may require more than one volley. In addition, a “Smerch”, “Hurricane”, “Grad” or “Tornado” at the time of launch cannot be detected except by a blind soldier, since a noble cloud of smoke forms in that place. But in such installations, one projectile can contain up to several hundred kilograms of explosive.
Cannon artillery, due to its accuracy, can be used to fire at the enemy at the moment he is close to his own positions. In addition, a barreled self-propelled artillery gun is capable of counter-battery fire, doing this for many hours. The barrels of volley fire systems wear out rather quickly, which does not contribute to their long-term use.
By the way, in the first Chechen campaign, Grads were used, which managed to fight in Afghanistan. The wear of their barrels was such that the shells sometimes scattered in unpredictable directions. This often led to the "covering" of their own soldiers.
The best multiple rocket launchers
Artillery guns of Russia "Tornado" inevitably take the lead. They fire shells of 122 mm caliber at a distance of up to 100 kilometers. In one volley, up to 40 charges can be fired, which cover an area of up to 84,000 square meters. The power reserve is no less than 650 kilometers. Together with the high reliability of the chassis and the speed of movement up to 60 km / h, this allows you to transfer the Tornado battery to the right place and with minimal time.
The second most effective is the domestic MLRS 9K51 "Grad", infamous after the events in the South-East of Ukraine. Caliber - 122 mm, 40 barrels. It shoots at a distance of up to 21 kilometers, in one run it can “process” an area of up to 40 square kilometers. The power reserve at a maximum speed of 85 km / h is as much as 1.5 thousand kilometers!
The third place is occupied by the HIMARS artillery gun from an American manufacturer. The ammunition has an impressive caliber of 227 mm, but only six rails spoil the impression of the installation somewhat. The range of the shot is up to 85 kilometers, at one time it is possible to cover an area of 67 square kilometers. The speed of movement is up to 85 km / h, the cruising range is 600 kilometers. Well-established in the land campaign in Afghanistan.
The fourth position is occupied by the Chinese installation WS-1B. The Chinese did not waste time on trifles: the caliber of this awesome weapon is 320 mm. In appearance, this MLRS resembles the Russian-made S-300 air defense system and has only four barrels. The range is about 100 kilometers, the affected area is up to 45 square kilometers. At maximum speed, these modern artillery pieces have a range of approximately 600 kilometers.
In last place is the Indian MLRS Pinaka. The design includes 12 guides for 122 mm caliber shells. Firing range - up to 40 km. At a maximum speed of 80 km / h, the car can travel up to 850 kilometers. The affected area is as much as 130 square kilometers. The system was developed with the direct participation of Russian specialists, and has proven itself excellently in the course of numerous Indian-Pakistani conflicts.
guns
This weapon has gone far from its ancient predecessors, who dominated the fields of the Middle Ages. The caliber of guns that are used in modern conditions ranges from 100 (anti-tank artillery gun "Rapier") to 155 mm (TR, NATO).
The range of projectiles used by them is also unusually wide: from standard high-explosive fragmentation rounds to programmable projectiles that can hit a target at a distance of up to 45 kilometers with an accuracy of tens of centimeters. True, the cost of one such shot can be up to 55 thousand US dollars! In this regard, Soviet artillery guns are much cheaper.
Name | Producing country | Caliber, mm | Gun weight, kg | Maximum firing range (depending on the type of projectile), km |
BL 5.5 inch (withdrawn from service almost everywhere) | ||||
"Zoltam" M-68/M-71 | ||||
WA 021 (actual clone of Belgian GC 45) | ||||
2A36 "Hyacinth-B" | ||||
"Rapier" | ||||
Soviet artillery guns S-23 | ||||
"Sprut-B" | ||||
mortars
Modern mortar systems trace their lineage to ancient bombards and mortars, which could release a bomb (up to hundreds of kilograms in weight) at a distance of 200-300 meters. Today, both their design and the maximum range of use have changed significantly.
In most of the armed forces of the world, the combat doctrine for mortars considers them as artillery pieces for mounted firing at a distance of about a kilometer. The effectiveness of the use of this weapon in urban conditions and in the suppression of scattered, mobile enemy groups is noted. In the Russian army, mortars are standard weapons, they are used in every more or less serious combat operation.
And during the Ukrainian events, both sides of the conflict demonstrated that even outdated 88 mm mortars are an excellent tool both for and for countering it.
Modern mortars, like other barreled artillery, are now developing in the direction of increasing the accuracy of each shot. So, last summer, the well-known weapons corporation BAE Systems for the first time demonstrated to the world community high-precision mortar rounds of 81 mm caliber, which were tested at one of the British training grounds. It is reported that such ammunition can be used with all possible efficiency in the temperature range from -46 to +71 ° C. In addition, there is information about the planned production of the widest range of such shells.
The military pins special hopes on the development of high-precision mines of 120 mm caliber with increased power. New models developed for the American army (XM395, for example), with a firing range of up to 6.1 km, have a deviation of no more than 10 meters. It is reported that such shots were used by the crews of Stryker armored vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the new ammunition showed its best side.
But the most promising today are the development of guided missiles with active homing. So, domestic artillery guns "Nona" can use the "Kitolov-2" projectile, with which you can hit almost any modern tank at a distance of up to nine kilometers. Given the cheapness of the gun itself, such developments are expected to be of interest to the military around the world.
Thus, the artillery gun is to this day a formidable argument on the battlefield. New models are constantly being developed, and more and more promising shells are being produced for existing barrel systems.
10
The Archer self-propelled guns use the chassis of a Volvo A30D with a 6x6 wheel arrangement. The chassis is equipped with a diesel engine with a capacity of 340 horsepower, which allows you to reach speeds on the highway up to 65 km / h. It is worth noting that the wheeled chassis can move through snow up to one meter deep. If the wheels of the installation were damaged, then the ACS can still move for some time.
A distinctive feature of the howitzer is the absence of the need for additional calculation numbers for loading it. The cockpit is armored to protect the crew from small arms fire and ammunition fragments.
9
"Msta-S" is designed to destroy tactical nuclear weapons, artillery and mortar batteries, tanks and other armored vehicles, anti-tank weapons, manpower, air defense and missile defense systems, command posts, as well as to destroy field fortifications and impede the maneuvers of enemy reserves in the depth of his defenses. It can fire at observed and unobserved targets from closed positions and direct fire, including work in mountainous conditions. When firing, both shots from the ammunition rack and those fired from the ground are used, without loss in rate of fire.
Crew members are talking with the help of intercom equipment 1V116 for seven subscribers. External communication is carried out using the R-173 VHF radio station (range up to 20 km).
The additional equipment of self-propelled guns includes: automatic 3-fold action PPO with control equipment 3ETs11-2; two filtering units; self-digging system mounted on the lower frontal sheet; TDA powered by the main engine; system 902V "Cloud" for firing 81-mm smoke grenades; two tank degassing devices (TDP).
8 AS-90
Self-propelled artillery mount on a tracked chassis with a rotating turret. The hull and turret are made of 17 mm steel armor.
The AS-90 replaced all other types of artillery in the British Army, both self-propelled and towed, with the exception of the L118 light towed howitzers and MLRS, and were used by them in combat during the Iraq War.
7 Krabs (based on AS-90)
The SPH Krab is a 155mm NATO compliant self-propelled howitzer manufactured in Poland by Produkcji Wojskowej Huta Stalowa Wola. The ACS is a complex symbiosis of the Polish chassis of the RT-90 tank (with the S-12U engine), an artillery unit from the AS-90M Braveheart with a long barrel of 52 caliber, and its own (Polish) Topaz fire control system. The 2011 SPH Krab version uses a new gun barrel from Rheinmetall.
SPH Krab was immediately created with the ability to fire in modern modes, that is, for the MRSI mode (multiple simultaneous impact shells) as well. As a result, SPH Krab within 1 minute in MRSI mode fires 5 projectiles at the enemy (that is, at the target) for 30 seconds, after which it leaves the firing position. Thus, for the enemy, a complete impression is created that 5 self-propelled guns are firing at him, and not one.
6 M109A7 "Paladin"
Self-propelled artillery mount on a tracked chassis with a rotating turret. The hull and turret are made of rolled aluminum armor, which provides protection against small arms fire and field artillery shell fragments.
In addition to the United States, it became the standard self-propelled guns of NATO countries, was also supplied in significant quantities to a number of other countries and was used in many regional conflicts.
5PLZ05
The ACS turret is welded from rolled armor plates. Two four-barreled blocks of smoke grenade launchers were installed on the frontal part of the tower to create smoke screens. A hatch for the crew is provided in the aft part of the hull, which can be used to replenish ammunition while supplying ammunition from the ground to the loading system.
The PLZ-05 is equipped with an automatic gun loading system developed on the basis of the Russian Msta-S self-propelled guns. The rate of fire is 8 rounds per minute. The howitzer gun has a caliber of 155 mm and a barrel length of 54 calibers. The gun ammunition is located in the turret. It consists of 30 rounds of 155 mm caliber and 500 rounds for a 12.7 mm machine gun.
4
The Type 99 155mm self-propelled howitzer is a Japanese self-propelled howitzer in service with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. It replaced the obsolete self-propelled guns Type 75.
Despite the interests in self-propelled guns of the armies of several countries of the world, the sale of copies of this howitzer abroad was prohibited by Japanese law.
3
The K9 Thunder self-propelled guns were developed in the mid-90s of the last century by the Samsung Techwin corporation by order of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Korea, in addition to the K55 \ K55A1 self-propelled guns in service with their subsequent replacement.
In 1998, the Korean government signed a contract with Samsung Techwin Corporation for the supply of self-propelled guns, and in 1999 the first batch of K9 Thunder was delivered to the customer. In 2004, Turkey bought a production license and also received a batch of K9 Thunder. A total of 350 units have been ordered. The first 8 self-propelled guns were built in Korea. From 2004 to 2009, 150 self-propelled guns were delivered to the Turkish army.
2
Developed in the Nizhny Novgorod Central Research Institute "Burevestnik". SAU 2S35 is designed to destroy tactical nuclear weapons, artillery and mortar batteries, tanks and other armored vehicles, anti-tank weapons, manpower, air defense and missile defense systems, command posts, as well as to destroy field fortifications and prevent maneuvers of enemy reserves in the depths of his defense . On May 9, 2015, the new 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV self-propelled howitzer was officially presented for the first time at the Parade in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
According to the estimates of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, in terms of a set of characteristics, the 2S35 self-propelled guns outperform similar systems by 1.5-2 times. Compared to the M777 towed howitzers and M109 self-propelled howitzers in service with the US Army, the Koalitsiya-SV self-propelled howitzer has a higher degree of automation, an increased rate of fire and a firing range that meets modern requirements for combined arms combat.
1
Self-propelled artillery mount on a tracked chassis with a rotating turret. The hull and turret are made of steel armor, which provides protection against bullets of up to 14.5 mm caliber and fragments of 152 mm shells. The possibility of using dynamic protection is provided.
The PzH 2000 is capable of firing three rounds in nine seconds or ten rounds in 56 seconds at ranges up to 30 km. The howitzer holds a world record - at a training ground in South Africa, she fired a V-LAP projectile (active rocket with improved aerodynamics) at 56 km.
Based on the combination of indicators, the PzH 2000 is considered the most advanced serial self-propelled guns in the world. ACS has earned extremely high marks from independent experts; so, the Russian specialist O. Zheltonozhko defined it as a reference system for the present, which all manufacturers of self-propelled artillery mounts are guided by.
In the second half of the century before last, attempts by gunsmiths-gunners to increase the range of guns ran into a limitation created by the fast-burning black powders used at that moment. A powerful propellant charge created a gigantic pressure during detonation, but as the projectile moved along the bore, the pressure of the powder gases quickly dropped.
This factor influenced the design of the guns of that time: the breech parts of the guns had to be made with very thick walls that could withstand enormous pressure, while the barrel length remained relatively small, since there was no practical value in increasing the barrel length. The record holder guns of that time had an initial projectile speed of 500 meters per second, and ordinary specimens were even less.
The first attempts to increase the range of the gun due to multi-chamber
In 1878, the French engineer Louis-Guillaume Perreaux proposed the idea of using several additional explosive charges located in separate chambers located outside the breech of the gun. According to his idea, the undermining of gunpowder in additional chambers should have occurred as the projectile moved along the bore, thereby ensuring a constant pressure created by powder gases.
In theory gun with additional chambers it was supposed to surpass the classic artillery guns of that time both literally and figuratively, but this is only in theory. In 1879, (according to other sources in 1883), a year after the innovation proposed by Perrault, two American engineers James Richard Haskell and Azel S. Lyman embody Perrault's multi-chamber gun in metal.
The brainchild of the Americans, in addition to the main chamber, in which 60 kilograms of explosives were laid, had 4 additional ones with a load of 12.7 kilograms each. Haskell and Lyman counted on the fact that the explosion of gunpowder in additional chambers would occur from the flame of the main charge as the projectile moved along the barrel and opened fire access to them.
However, in practice, everything turned out differently than on paper: the detonation of charges in additional chambers occurred prematurely, contrary to the expectations of the designers, and in fact the projectile was not accelerated by the energy of additional charges, as expected, but was slowed down.
A projectile fired from a five-chamber cannon of the Americans showed a modest 335 meters per second, which meant a complete failure of the project. The failure in the field of using multi-chamber to increase the range of artillery guns made weapons engineers forget about the idea of additional charges before the Second World War.
Multi-chamber artillery pieces of World War II
During World War II, the idea of using multi-chamber artillery guns to increase the firing range actively developed by Nazi Germany. Under the command of engineer August Könders, in 1944, the Germans begin to implement the V-3 project, code-named (HDP) "High Pressure Pump".
Monstrous in its scope, a gun 124 meters long, 150 mm in caliber and weighing 76 tons was supposed to participate in the shelling of London. The estimated range of its arrow-shaped projectile was more than 150 kilometers; the projectile itself, 3250 mm long and weighing 140 kilograms, carried 25 kg of explosive. The barrel of the HDP gun consisted of 32 sections 4.48 meters long, each section (except for the breech from where the projectile was loaded) had two additional charging chambers located at an angle to the bore.
The weapon was nicknamed "Centipede" due to the fact that additional charging chambers gave the weapon a resemblance to an insect. In addition to range, the Nazis relied on rate of fire, since the estimated reload time of the Centipede was only a minute: it’s scary to imagine what would have been left of London if Hitler’s plans had come true.
Due to the fact that the implementation of the V-3 project involved the implementation of a huge amount of construction work and the involvement of a large number of workers, the Allied forces learned about the active preparation of positions for the placement of five HDP-type guns and on July 6, 1944, the forces of the British Air Force bomber squadron bombed the building under construction in stone galleries long-range battery.
After the fiasco with the V-3 project, the Nazis developed a simplified version of the gun under the code designation LRK 15F58, which, by the way, managed to take part in the shelling of Luxembourg by the Germans from a distance of 42.5 kilometers. The LRK 15F58 gun was also 150 mm caliber and had 24 additional charging chambers with a barrel length of 50 meters. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, one of the surviving guns was taken to the United States for study.
Ideas for using multi-chamber guns to launch satellites
Perhaps inspired by the successes of Nazi Germany and having a working sample in hand, the United States, together with Canada, began work on the High Altitude Research Project HARP in 1961, the purpose of which was to study the ballistic properties of objects launched into the upper atmosphere. A little later, the military became interested in the project, who hoped with the help multi-chamber light gas guns and probes.
In just six years of the project's existence, more than a dozen guns of various calibers were built and tested. The largest of them is a gun located in Barbados, which had a caliber of 406 mm with a barrel length of 40 meters. The gun fired 180-kilogram shells to a height of about 180 kilometers, while the initial velocity of the projectile reached 3600 meters per second.
But even such an impressive speed, of course, was not enough to put the projectile into orbit. The project manager, Canadian engineer Gerald Vincent Bull, developed the Marlet rocket projectile to achieve the desired results, but he was not destined to fly and the HARP project ceased to exist in 1967.
The closure of the HARP project was certainly a blow to the ambitious Canadian designer Gerald Bull, because he may have been a few steps away from success. For several years, Bull unsuccessfully searched for a sponsor for a grandiose project. In the end, Saddam Hussein became interested in the talent of an artillery engineer. He offers Bull financial patronage in exchange for the post of project manager for the creation of a super weapon in the framework of the Babylon project.
From the scarce data available in the public domain, four different guns are known, of which at least one used a slightly modified multi-chamber principle. To achieve a constant gas pressure in the barrel, in addition to the main charge, there was an additional one fixed directly on the projectile and moving along with it.
Based on the results of testing a 350 mm caliber gun, it was assumed that a two-ton projectile fired from a similar 1000 mm caliber gun could launch small (up to 200 kilograms) satellites into orbit, while the launch cost was estimated at about $ 600 per kilogram, which is an order of magnitude cheaper than a launch vehicle.
As you can see, someone did not like such close cooperation between the ruler of Iraq and a talented engineer, and as a result, Bull was killed in 1990 in Brussels after working on the super-weapon project for only two years.