Remotely Operated Automatic Cannon for Armored Vehicles.
Abstract
Several European firms produce armored-vehicle automatic gun turrets with the weapon mounted externally overhead. This turret location offers three significant advantages: 1. Greater protection for vehicle and personnel when the gun is fired from the hull defilade position. 2. Reduced vehicle vulnerability due to a smaller frontal silhouette and a smaller armored volume, thereby permitting a corresponding reduction in turret weight and subsequent greater power-to-weight ratios or more armor protection. 3. Reduced design constraints, permitting larger weapons and greater versatility i.e., greater angles of elevation and depression, use of secondary armament, employment of night vision devices, etc. The turrets presently available are easily adaptable with a minimum of modification to light armored vehicles, which include vehicles in the US inventory, the M113 armored personnel carrier, LVPT-7 amphibious assault vehicle, or the Piranha LAV (light armored vehicle). This turret configuration will gain rapid acceptance and development as countries recognize the need for a low-cost alternative to the current infantry fighting vehicles (IFV), i.e., the US M2, the West German Marder, and the British MCV-80. Physical and operational characteristics of five representative automatic cannon turrets are summarized in the table at the end of this report.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 14, 1983
- Accession Number
- ADA143158
Entities
People
- S. P. Kirkup
Organizations
- United States Army Foreign Science and Technology Center