The extent to which towed artillery is a viable option these days makes it possible to understand some of the combat missions. In airborne operations, ultralight 155mm or light 105mm cannons remain an alternative to heavy mortars, although ammunition supply is a key issue here.
Although the Light Gun is no longer in production, it is in service with many armies under the designation L118. The US Army is armed with the L119 variant, which can fire M1 ammunition.
In order to cope with the weight restrictions inherent in the airmobile forces, the 155-mm artillery systems, as a rule, are equipped with 39 caliber barrels. This means that their range when firing standard ammunition barely exceeds 20 km, but this is quite enough for this kind of operations. The latest generation of towed lip cannons have 52 barrels, which naturally increase the firing range. How viable the towed solutions are when comparing them with systems installed on a truck chassis with the same artillery unit, one can only guess. Some armies threw a cannon towed behind a truck to put the cannon on the truck. But, many 155-mm systems of caliber 39 remain in service even in the armies of the first echelon; in most cases, limited budgets remain the main reason for this choice.
India's general need for artillery systems is huge, and the towed howitzer cannon is no exception. Two 155-mm / 52 systems took part in the tests, which ended in the fall of 2014: Trajan from Nexter and Athos from Elbit Systems. Meanwhile, in order to solve technical problems identified in 2013, their competitor was tested with a shorter 45 caliber barrel and a range of 38 km, which is a further development of the Bofors FH77B howitzer developed in India. The Indian army has ordered 116 of these guns from Ordnance Factories, but it is possible to purchase another 300 guns. The TGS (Towed Gun System) part of the Indian Army Modernization Plan is a very tasty morsel, as Delhi has to buy about 1,580 systems. India recently lifted the ban on several defense contractors, including another manufacturer of artillery systems, albeit a heavier class, South African company Denel. In addition to purchasing "heavy" field howitzers, Delhi also planned to purchase 145 M777 ultralight howitzers, but the delay in this project was explained by the fact that BAE Systems stopped production of ultralight howitzers, which, along with the appreciation of the dollar, significantly increased the estimated budget of this program. However, in January 2015, BAE Systems offered to move the entire M777 assembly line from the United States to India in order to partially solve this problem and provide an even greater adaptation of the howitzer to the customer. It is not yet clear how much this will help restart the process of purchasing howitzers.
The M777 system was designed to provide the US Army and Marine Corps with 155mm airborne artillery to complement the heavier M198 howitzer. A weight limit of 10,000 lb (4218 kg) was defined, and a condition was made that the same titanium and aluminum alloys used in the manufacture of the previous system were used in the manufacture of the new system. Due to the fact that the M777 did not receive a propulsion system, it must be transported on the suspension of CH-53E and CH-47D helicopters and on board the MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor and the C-130 transport aircraft. A Humvee armored car is sufficient for short distance towing, although a heavier vehicle is needed for long distances. The M777 howitzer has a rate of fire of five rounds per minute up to two minutes, with a sustained rate of fire of two rounds per minute.
Canadian cannon M777 mounted on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter; BAE systems' 155/39 ultralight howitzer can also be transported by the Marine Corps CH-53 helicopter
The initial version of the M777 was equipped with an optical fire control system, an onboard power supply was added to the A1 configuration system to supply a digital kit that included an INS / GPS positioning and navigation system (INS - Inertial Navigation System, GPS - Global Positioning Satellite System), a radio station, display module of the gun and control unit of the crew commander. For the purpose of compatibility of the M777 with the Excalibur guided ammunition, a variant of the M777A2 was developed, to which an improved induction fuse installer was added, as well as software. The howitzer is in service with the US Army, Marine Corps, Australian and Canadian armies. Since 2006, M777 howitzers deployed in Afghanistan have fired tens of thousands of rounds, including Excalibur guided rounds. Due to the fact that the integration of the modular artillery charge system MACS (Modular Artillery Charge System) is envisaged, further improvements may consist in a new fire control system (FCS), as well as a laser charge initiation system. In addition to the Indian customer, the Brazilian Marines have recently also shown interest in purchasing a small number of howitzers, but budgetary constraints have forced them to postpone their choice.
Another 155-mm light howitzer in the caliber 39 category, designated Pegasus, was developed in the early 2000s by the joint efforts of the Singapore Army, the Office of Military Applied Research and Singapore Technologies Kinetics. Several conditions were put forward: a weight limit of 5, 4 tons, the barrel and carriage are made of titanium and aluminum alloy, as well as a scheme with an auxiliary power unit (APU) for moving the howitzer over rough terrain. When deploying the howitzer, the APU is also used to power the autoloader, which allows the Pegasus to fire a three-round salvo in 24 seconds. The new anti-rollback system reduces the rollback forces by a third compared to the rollback forces of the standard 155mm system. The new howitzer entered service in October 2005, replacing the French 105mm LG1 light cannon. There is currently no information on export orders for Pegasus.
Autonomous towed howitzer Athos (Autonomous Towed Howitzer Ordnance System) from Israeli company Elbit was recently ordered by the Philippines
The 155/52 APU-SIAC howitzer was originally developed by Santa Barbara; is in service with Spain and Colombia and can be acquired by Brazil
In the Far East, another country, China, has developed the AH4 155/39 ultralight howitzer weighing about 4 tons, but there are very few details about it.
Chinese 155 mm howitzer AH4 155/39
Let's move on to "heavy" systems. In the Trajan howitzer, Nexter drew on its experience in the 1980s with towed howitzers and the Caesar self-propelled howitzer (see Part 2. Hell on Wheels). The Trajan system, specially designed for the Indian application, is currently in the prototype stage. This towed howitzer is based on the swinging parts and sighting system of the Caesar howitzer mounted on the modified TR-F1 carriage. Equipped with a crane for handling ammunition and an automatic loading and discharging system, it has a rate of fire of six rounds per minute. Deployment of the howitzer is carried out using the APU and hydraulic systems, with the calculation of six people, the readiness to fire is less than 90 seconds. The APU guarantees a good level of autonomy; the system can move over rough terrain at a speed of 5 km / h. Nexter in 2011 organized a consortium with Indian Larsen & Toubro to localize production and is currently awaiting a request for proposals from the Indian side.
The Trajan howitzer of the French company Nexter for the Indian competition for towed artillery was developed to the prototype stage and is still awaiting its first buyer.
The Athos (Autonomous Towed Howitzer Ordnance System) howitzer was developed by the Israeli company Soltam (currently part of Elbit Systems), its swinging masses and carriage are capable of receiving barrels of various calibers, including modern 52 caliber models. The system is currently being offered to India. To this end, a joint venture was established with the Indian company Bharat Forge Limited to produce the Athos howitzer at a local plant. With its automatic loading system, it can fire three rounds in 30 seconds, an intense rate of fire of 12 rounds in three minutes, and a sustained rate of fire of 42 rounds per hour. Equipped with digital navigation, fire control and guidance systems, the gun can also fire direct fire at a range of up to 1.5 km. Its APU drives the howitzer's hydraulic system, as well as two main wheels, which allows it to independently withdraw from the position after completing a firing mission. The Philippines recently ordered an Athos howitzer, in March 2014 Elbit Systems received a contract from that country for 12 systems worth almost 7 million euros.
Another 52 caliber system is being promoted by the American General Dynamics European Land Systems. It was originally developed by the Spanish company Santa Barbara under the designation 155/52 APU-SIAC (Sistema Integrado de Artilleria de Campana). Compared to other systems in this category, the Spanish cannon has a carriage with four main wheels and two more wheels on the openers, all the wheels are raised during firing. The howitzer is equipped with a ballistic computer, a radar for measuring the initial speed, a temperature sensor in the chamber, a recoil force sensor and an effective shot counter. Thanks to its wheels and APU, it can be ready to fire in two minutes and leave the position in one and a half minutes. There are several modes of firing: three shots in 11 seconds, 4 shots in 20 seconds or 10 rounds per minute, the continuous rate of fire is two rounds per minute. In the MRSI mode (simultaneous impact of several shells; the angle of inclination of the barrel changes and all shells fired in a certain time interval arrive at the target simultaneously) the howitzer can fire up to 4 shots. Also, the howitzer is in service with Colombia in the 155/52 APU-SBT configuration. The Brazilian Marine Corps is also interested in the SIAC system.
Singapore-based Singapore Technologies Kinetics developed a 52-caliber cannon, starting with its FH-88 155mm / 39 model and retaining the same four-wheeled carriage layout. The howitzer received the designation FH2000; it is equipped with a semi-automatic loading system and a hydraulic rammer, which allows it to maintain a rate of fire of 6 rounds per minute for three minutes. The FH2000 howitzer is in service with Singapore and Indonesia. This system was taken as the basis for the Turkish towed howitzer T-155 Panter. STK provided technical assistance in the development of the system to the Turkish state-owned company MKEK. The T-155 Panter howitzer, equipped with a more powerful APU, is heavier than the original FH2000. The Turkish army is armed with several hundred Panter howitzers. Turkey also exported this system to Pakistan, which produced several dozen of these howitzers at its factories.
The 155mm AH1 45-caliber towed howitzer from the Chinese company Norinco, once known as the GC45, has a four-wheeled carriage with two large wheels on openers. It originates from the PLL01, the first 155mm cannon to enter service with the Chinese army. Its range reaches 39 km when using ammunition with a bottom gas generator and 50 km when firing active-rocket projectiles. Thanks to the pneumatic rammer, the rate of fire is three rounds per minute. The AH 1 howitzer is in service with at least one other country, Algeria. A 52 caliber variant was developed under the designation AH2, the weight of which increased by one ton compared to the AH1. Ethiopia will most likely become the first customer of the system, but here it is necessary to take into account the extreme closeness of China in such matters and therefore the contract will never receive wide publicity.
Truly lungs
While many countries have replaced their 105mm light cannons with light 155mm systems, those that cannot afford them because of the cost or cannot operate helicopters that cannot lift such guns while relying on smaller caliber systems. … There is another problem here - the supply of ammunition, given how heavy the ammunition load of 155-mm shells and charges is. This market may be considered a niche market at the moment, but it still remains a market.
The 105 LG1 howitzer produced by Nexter weighing only 1.6 tons can, of course, be transported by medium-sized helicopters. Colombia, as one of the last buyers of this system, has developed an interesting concept for its application. The LG1 is used as an assault artillery weapon because it can be easily deployed anywhere in the area of operation, while providing simple and reliable fire support. The GPS / INS navigation and positioning system allows you to quickly open fire from the LG1 howitzer; however, the experience of Colombia has shown that every howitzer must be capable of processing data for firing based on target data obtained from the army network. In this regard, Nexter has developed a prototype of the Toplite lightweight firing computer, which is currently in its final stages of development. Toplite communicates over WiFi with the digitized weapon, reducing errors and speeding up the firing process. Nexter has not yet received an order for the system, but it is clear that Colombia has shown an increased interest in it.
The advantages of 105-mm howitzers also lie in the lower mass of ammunition for them. For example, the Nexter LG1 field gun can be transported on the suspension of the Eurocopter EC725 Cougar multipurpose helicopter.
The Nexter LG1 is easier to fire with the lightweight Toplite firing computer
In late 2014, gunners from the US Army's 101st Airborne Division fired for the first time with a digitized M119A3 light cannon. It is the latest version of BAE Systems' L118 / M119 Light Gun. The gun is equipped with a digital fire control system, which includes an inertial navigation unit, GPS, a gunner's display, digital communications between all guns and the Fire Direction Center high-precision guidance technology, as well as other elements that allow the gun complex to independently determine its exact geographic position. The digital system allows the first shot to be fired in two to three minutes, as opposed to 10 minutes in the previous version of the M119A2. The software is 90% compatible with the M777A2 software, which in turn is very similar to the M109A6 Paladin howitzer software, which simplifies routine calculation steps and saves development costs. The gun retained all the elements of the previous version of A2, which allowed the calculation to switch to manual mode when digital systems failed in some situations. The M119 is a variant of the American-made L118 Light Gun, which was originally developed in the mid-1970s by Royal Ordnance (now BAE Systems).
The British Army has upgraded their light cannons with the Linaps laser-assisted targeting system from Selex ES. BAE Systems offers similar modernization programs for the export market
Other countries have also digitized their light cannons. The British Army adopted the Linaps automatic targeting system from Selex ES for its L118 gun; Canada, the UAE, Oman, South Africa, Malaysia and Thailand also did not stand aside, integrating the system into guns of various types. New Zealand was the last customer to install the Linaps system on its L119 Light Gun. Linaps includes a radar for measuring the initial speed, an inertial navigation unit FIN 3110L, a gun guidance unit, a battery unit and a crew commander's terminal, which is a hardened tablet computer with the ability to overlay layers on operational maps. The newest variants have a display control unit with a 10.4-inch screen. The Linaps INS / GPS inertial navigation system provides a circular probable deviation of 10 meters in the vertical and horizontal planes, the azimuth accuracy is less than one thousandth of the distance.
The G7 howitzer, manufactured by the South African company Denel, has an unusually long 52 caliber barrel, which allows a range of about 32 km with projectiles with a bottom gas generator. But this, in turn, led to an increase in mass up to about 3, 8 tons. However, measures are already being considered to reduce the weight of the G7 by at least one ton. Further work, most likely, depends on the appearance of the launch customer.
Howitzer G7 manufactured by the South African company Denel
The FH-70 system is outdated, but some countries, in anticipation of better times, are planning to modernize it and subsequently replace it with light 155-mm howitzers.
FH-70: Conservative Cannon
The Cold War 155mm / 39 field gun is definitely outdated; however, she does not want to retire. Perhaps, thanks to the reduced defense budgets, it remains in service with various countries, although almost all manufacturing countries have mothballed this system. Except for Italy, which plans to keep it in operation for another 10-15 years. Currently, a program for the modernization of the gun is being carried out. Stage 1 provides for the development of a prototype that can interact with the Italian SIF (Integrated Fire System) operational control system, the modernization of three more guns to this standard, as well as the standard Astra tractor. The main part of the modernization includes a new diesel APU, the integration of the Selex-ES Linaps target designation system and the purchase of an Astra artillery tractor. The prototype was supposed to be released for testing in the summer of 2015. In Phase 2, another 74 FH-70 howitzers will be upgraded and new tractors purchased. In addition, Oto Melara is developing a kit that will allow the upgraded FH-70 howitzer to fire Vulcano ammunition.
Soviet-Russian towed systems
On the site topwar.ru read a series of interesting articles about the wonderful towed guns created by Soviet and Russian designers.
152 mm D-20 howitzer cannon
Soviet howitzer D-30, caliber 122 mm
130 mm M-46 cannon, model 1953
S-23 180 mm cannon
Anti-tank gun MT-12
152mm towed howitzer 2A61
