General artillery, SPGs, MLRS and long range ATGMs thread.

[LoooSeR]

On 6/7/2023 at 12:19 PM, LoooSeR said:

New Iranian medium range ballistic missile Khorramshahr-4 (Khaibar). 

 

 

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[LoooSeR]

TOS-1A in Ukraine with anti-drone dropped grenades net on top of launcher unit.

 

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[Renegade334]

 

[Renegade334]

 

[LoooSeR]

Iranian missiles that were shown during parade. Stolen from Yuri Lyamin's blog.

 

Paveh cruise missile, recent variants claimed to have ~2000 km range.

 

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Liquid fuel MRBM Khorramshahr with 2000 km, range claimed, can possibly go to 3000 km.

 

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LF MRBM Emad with range of ~1700 km

 

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Solid fuel MRBM Fattah with 1400 km range and maneuvering hypersonic warhead.

 

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Kheibar Shekan - "father" of Fattah missile

 

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Another solid fuel missile - Haj Qasem (Soleimani). 1400 km range claimed.

 

Dezful solid fuel SRBM/MRBM (up to 1000 km range)

[LoooSeR]

Houthis meanwhile also had a parade with bunch of locally (absolutely not Iranian) made missiles. Stolen from Yuri Lyamin's blog.

 

Toufan MRBM - Iranian Ghadr, with range of ~2000km.

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Thus, under the name Toufan, Iranian MRBMs from the Ghadr family were first shown. They are becoming the longest-range missiles in the Yemeni arsenal of the Houthis and I suspect that these are Ghadr-F, since their maximum range of 1950 km allows from the north of Yemen to hit not only any point in the territory of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but also reach almost any point in the territory Israel.

 

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Aqeel, variant of Iranian Rezvan with guided warhead block

 

Tankil missile - Iranian Zoheir with 500 km range.

 

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Tankil variant with optics in warhead block, supposedly this is AShM.

 

Quds-4 cruise missile - Iranian Paveh variant.

 

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Hatem missile. Houthi-assembled Iranian Khaybar Shekan, 1400 range with guided warhead block.

 

Zulfiqar - Iranian Rezvan. 1400km range.

Karar - Iranian Fateh-110

 

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Soviet Tochkas that Houthis still have in some numbers

 

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Tochka TEL under camo net

 

 

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Various guided missiles/missiles. As far as one can judge, they are mostly created on the basis of various Iranian guided missiles/missiles such as Fajr-4C\CL, BM-45, BM-120, etc.

 

Mayun

 

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Saeer

 

Badr P-1 (Badr-1P)

 

Rest of Badr family of missiles

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Badr-3

Badr-4

 

 

[LoooSeR]

Serbian 155 mm SPG Alexandar.

 

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   SPG use MAN SX45 8x8 as a chassis, armed with an automated artillery module with an upgraded 155 mm/L52 M84 gun, remotely controlled either from the truck cabin or from a remote control at a distance of up to 100 meters.
   The self-propelled gun is offered in 2 variations: standard, with a chamber volume of 23 liters. and a special long-range version with a chamber of 25 liters..
In the case of the standard version, the maximum firing range reaches 52 km (according to other sources, 56 km) when firing active-rocket projectiles with a V-LAP bottom gas generator; in the second version, the maximum firing range of V-LAP projectiles reaches 62 km (according to other sources, 70 km .). The gun in all 2 variants is capable of firing all standard and special 155 mm shells.

 

 

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   An automatic loader combined with a modern control system (including a radar for measuring projectile speed and an inertial navigation system with a backup satellite navigation system GPS, GLONASS, etc.) provides a rate of fire of 6 rounds per minute, with the ability to launch 4 projectiles in the MRSI mode at a distance of up to 25 km.

   The time of readiness to fire (from the moment of stopping to the 1st shot) is 1 minute, and 1 minute for moving away from the firing position.

   To stabilize during shooting, 4 hydraulic stops are installed, which allows shooting in all directions.

   The automatic loader, like its predecessors, has two drums for 12 shots. Remaining ammunition load with an automatic replenishment system for 12 shells and 12 charges is stored in the ammunition compartment located behind the engine compartment.

   Thanks to high automation, the number of crew was reduced to 3 people.

   The armored cabin provides protection for the crew from small arms fire and artillery shell fragments. (There is no information regarding the reservation level, but based on the characteristics of the NORA B-52 M26 self-propelled gun, we can assume that we are talking about STANAG 4569 level 2). Weight of the SPG is 27 tons.

 

 

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[LoooSeR]

Rostech has begun supplying the troops with a new Flox artillery guns, first batch already transfered to Army.

Its a 120 mm caliber cannon-mortar, use same rounds as Vena SPG, but uses wheeled Ural truck chassis. 

 

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[Renegade334]

Army’s upcoming artillery strategy has ‘a big menu’ to choose from

 

 

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WASHINGTON — Decisions on the way forward for one of the U.S. Army’s top long-range fires priorities — the Extended Range Cannon Artillery program — won’t come until a new conventional fires strategy is complete, the service’s acquisition chief said.

“It really becomes a fiscal year 2025 budget decision, if we were to go in a different direction,” Doug Bush confirmed to Defense News in a recent interview. “I think, though, that the requirement is still there. We still need longer range in a more affordable way, which is an important caveat.”

Of the 24 new Army systems slated to make it into the hands of soldiers by the end of 2023, only the Extended Range Cannon Artillery program might miss that goal, Bush said when the Army unveiled its fiscal 2024 budget request this year.

The ERCA system uses a service-developed, 58-caliber gun tube mounted on the chassis of a BAE Systems-made Paladin Integrated Management howitzer.

The Army was building 20 prototypes of the ERCA system: two for destructive testing, and the remaining 18 for a battalion. The Long Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team declined an interview request ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference, and did not respond to questions submitted in writing by press time.

The operational evaluation of ERCA revealed “engineering challenges,” Bush said this year. Observations in early testing of prototypes showed excessive wear on the gun tube after firing a relatively low number of rounds.

Army Futures Command leader Gen. James Rainey told Defense News this summer the service is working on a new conventional fires strategy expected by the end of the calendar year. The strategy will determine both capability and capacity of what exists and what the Army may need, Rainey said.

The strategy will also consider new technology to enhance conventional fires on the battlefield, such as advances in propellant that make it possible for midrange cannons to shoot as far as longer-range systems.

Depending on the artillery strategy’s conclusions, there are a variety of options the service could consider to fulfill the Army’s requirement for an extended-range cannon, Bush said.

“We’ve got Excalibur [munitions], we’ve got systems that can shoot that far,” Bush said. “I think an important goal for the ERCA program was to do it at scale and cost that’s lower than exquisite precision munitions.”

Another option, Bush said, could involve a shorter, 52-caliber gun tube — versus the 58-caliber one used in ERCA. The Army could, however, choose to continue the ERCA program with a 58-caliber gun tube but shift it into longer-term research and development instead of fielding it according to the previous plan.

Different munitions in various stages of development within the science and technology community as well as research and development organizations could also extend the range of current cannon systems, according to Bush.

Additionally, the service could reconsider how conventional fires capabilities are fielded to formations, such as giving wheeled or towed artillery to different units for different capabilities, he added.

Several years ago, the service assessed readily available 155mm mobile howitzers in search of ones that might offer an improvement in range, rate of fire and mobility over the artillery systems used within Stryker brigade combat teams. The Army evaluated at least four foreign companies’ offerings in a shoot-off, but did not move forward with a new capability.

The strategy was looking at various wheeled howitzers, Bush said, “but I don’t want to prejudge their conclusions. From an acquisition standpoint, if I get a requirement, we’ve got some options to go pretty fast — if it’s acceptable, for example, to take a foreign system rather than building a new one from scratch.”

The Army is also looking at a variety of auto-loading technologies. “It’s a big menu,” Bush said.

 

A few interesting things of note. It's not exactly a coincidence there's a L52 M109 at AUSA, given the revelations earlier this year that L58 ERCA had wear and tear issues. Someone smelled blood in the water...

 

That said, I don't think the M109L52 has an autoloader, has it? Just manual loading?

[Clan_Ghost_Bear]

@Renegade334

Doesn't sound like it does.

[Renegade334]

Yeah, it appears to merely be a Rheinmetall L52 155mm mated to a M109A7...unchanged turret geometry means no bustle autoloader like on the XM1299.

[Renegade334]

 

[Renegade334]

By the by, it's not the first time a M109 got a L52/155mm Rheinmetall gun upgrade - the Israelis have been there before:

 

 And the US also developed the M109A6+ International Howitzer, which had a M284 gun stretched to 52 calibers and semi-automation:

 

Speaking of which -- assuming USAR does clear the ERCA for production and acquisition (and provided they work out that excessive wear kink) -- it's actually possible to see both L52 M109s and XM1299s working side by side:

[Ramlaen]

https://www.baesystems.com/en-us/product/xm1155-sc

 

 

[Renegade334]

 

[LoooSeR]

TOS-2 at work, first footage of that system in Ukraine. Claimed to be used for quite some time, but footage was not public.
https://t.me/pozivnoy_kazman/5611

 

Launcher itself is covered with cope cages, from left side with armor plate and from the right - instrument, spare parts and equipment boxes

 

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[LoooSeR]

20 hours ago, LoooSeR said:

TOS-2 at work, first footage of that system in Ukraine. Claimed to be used for quite some time, but footage was not public.
https://t.me/pozivnoy_kazman/5611

 

Launcher itself is covered with cope cages, from left side with armor plate and from the right - instrument, spare parts and equipment boxes

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Better pics

 

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[Ramlaen]

[LoooSeR]

RuAF Msta-S with add-on crap to protect against drones.

 

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[LoooSeR]

Nona-S 120 mm SPM also with "Mangal" covering almost whole vehicle from above.

 

[Renegade334]

 

[Renegade334]

A pity the Crusader was cancelled by bloody Rumsfeld, though. It was a nifty piece of automation with a sizable ammo capacity.

I'm surprised BAE didn't hang onto the XM2001 the same way it hung onto the M8 AGS, to work out its kinks and offer an updated/upgraded version. There is a huge global market for artillery systems, and I'd like to think that no one has to make a detailed case for rapid-firing SPHs, whereas one has to argue for the role of light tanks on a battlefield.

[Dominus Dolorem]

What type of autoloader did the XM2001 have?

[Renegade334]

 

Artillery rounds were in two vertical carousels in the hull on either side of the breech. The turret bustle contained the propellant charges, but those storage cylinders were not motorized (not a bustle cassette autoloader like the Meggitt model or the one currently used in the XM1299).

 

 

 

[Dominus Dolorem]

22 hours ago, Renegade334 said:

 

Artillery rounds were in two vertical carousels in the hull on either side of the breech. The turret bustle contained the propellant charges, but those storage cylinders were not motorized (not a bustle cassette autoloader like the Meggitt model or the one currently used in the XM1299).

 

 

 

So a full autoloader that loads both shells and charges?