Gun Howitzer Noricum

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Gun Howitzer Noricum


GHN-45

General Information
Military designation: GHN-45
Manufacturer designation: Gun Howitzer Noricum-45
Manufacturer country: AustriaAustria Austria Switzerland
SwitzerlandSwitzerland 
Developer / Manufacturer: Space Research Corporation,
Noricum,
T&T Technology Trading
Production time: 1979 to 2006
Number of pieces: 500-669
Weapon Category: Field howitzer
Team: 6th
Technical specifications
Overall length: 13.97 m
(ready to fire)
Pipe length: 7.04 m
(with lock)
Caliber :

155 mm

Caliber length : L / 45
Number of trains : 48
Twist : 20th
Weight ready for use: 10,070 kg
Cadence : 2-5 rounds / min
Elevation range: -5 ° to 72 degrees
Side straightening area: right 40 °, left 30
Furnishing
Closure Type : Screw lock
Charging principle: manually
Ammunition supply: manually
Drive: Petrol auxiliary engine with 88 kW
Power supply: Auxiliary petrol engine

The guns howitzer GHN-45 ( Gun Howitzer Noricum called "Bull" by the designer) is a field howitzer in caliber mm 155th It is the further development of the prototype GC-45 into a powerful series gun.

development

In 1975, the Canadian engineer Gerald Bull founded the Space Research Corporation (SRC) in Québec . With this company he developed the GC-45 field howitzer . With this 155 mm gun, hitherto unattainable shooting distances of almost 40 km were achieved. The associated Extended Range Full Bore bullets (ERFB) were produced by Poudreries réunies de Belgique (PRB) in Belgium. At the end of the 1970s, Gerald Bull came under increasing pressure because of his contacts with the apartheid regime in South Africa . SRC had developed the G5 howitzer based on the GC-45 for South Africa and delivered it to South Africa by circumventing the UN arms embargo . Because of this, and because SRC did not have a facility for series production of guns in Canada, SRC relocated production of the GC-45 to VÖEST (later Noricum ) in Austria . There, the guns were first adapted for series production. The number of components has been reduced by around 30% and mobility and stability have been improved. The gun was also equipped with an auxiliary motor and a more effective muzzle brake. At the same time, the production of the associated extended-range full-bore bullets was relocated from PRB in Belgium to the Hirtenberger cartridge factory in Austria. The modified GC-45 gun was produced for export from 1979 under the new designation GHN-45. In 1981 VÖEST acquired all marketing and production licenses for the GHN-45 from SRC. The Austrian Armed Forces also took over five guns and tested them at the Baden Artillery School . A planned equipping of Austrian artillery battalions did not materialize as a result of the state treaty that prohibits artillery weapons with a range of more than 30 km.

The gun hit the headlines after it was delivered to the two warring parties Iran and Iraq during the First Gulf War . Due to the existing arms embargo, this led to the Noricum scandal in Austria , which was dealt with legally and in parliament.

After the Noricum scandal, production at VÖEST went out in 1991. The production license was taken over in 1994 by T&T Technology Trading Ltd from Switzerland , whose shareholder was VÖEST. After that, the GHN-45 continued to be built for export until 2006. The production took place at various European producers. In 2006, the price was 45-gun GC 512,000 to 566,200 for a dollar .

In 2015, the Indian Bharat Forge consortium presented the Bharat-52 gun , derived from the GHN-45. Bharat-52 uses a gun barrel with 52 caliber lengths (L / 52) and was developed in cooperation with the Swiss company RUAG .

variants

  • GC-45 : Original design from Canada
  • GHN-45 : 1st series version
  • GHN-45A : 2nd series version with optional charging device
  • GHN-45A1 : 2nd series version with various improvements

technology

The GHN-45 is a conventional field howitzer with a power train system. It shows the usual pattern of a four-wheeled spreader carriage with an auxiliary motor for short-term self-propulsion. The GHN-45 weighs 12,400 kg in the version with auxiliary motor. The version without an auxiliary motor weighs 10,100 kg. The length of the GHN-45 varies between 9.73 m when pulled and 13.97 m when ready to fire. The gun is built very flat and the height (due to the gun barrel) is 2.05 m in the drawn position. The width on the road is 2.75 m. The gun can optionally be equipped with a semi-automatic loading system. The automatic loading system feeds the bullets and places them in the barrel. The propellant charges and propellant charge lighters are loaded and supplied manually by an operator. A loading crane is available as a further option, with which the floors can be lifted from the floor into the loading cradle.

gun

The gun barrel is made of high-strength steel and is autofretted throughout . It is housed on a two-axle carriage with two spreader bars . The carriage is made of high-alloy steel. With the barrel cradle , two barrel brakes and barrel retrievers are mounted on the gun barrel . Next to it is the place for the alignment device. The semi-automatic screw cap and the combustion chamber are attached to the end of the pipe . Compared to the international standard, this has an increased volume from 21 liters to 23 liters. During transport, the bars are folded back and rest on two auxiliary wheels for transport. In the driving position, the gun barrel is swiveled 180 ° over the spars in the direction of travel. Light or medium-weight trucks are used for transport . The maximum permissible train speed is 90  km / h on the road and 15 km / h off-road. The front of the carriage is a gasoline auxiliary engine of Porsche attached. The air-cooled 4-cylinder engine has an output of 88 kW . Next to the engine is a seat with a steering wheel and other controls. The auxiliary motor is used to lift the main wheels after lowering the base plate, to steer the support wheels and to lift them when the tractor is operating, and to spread and close the bars. The gun can also with the auxiliary engine over short distances, with around 15  km / h . be moved into the firing position. The auxiliary motor can also be used when changing position.

To get the gun ready to fire or drive, the crew of six to eight people needs one to two minutes. When shooting, the main wheels are raised and the front of the GHN-45 is supported on a shooting platform that is lowered from the lower mount. At the end of the spars, two self-digging ground spurs are attached, which divert the recoil force into the ground. In addition, the recoil is reduced by a multi-chamber muzzle brake. The lateral straightening range is 40 ° on the right and 30 ° on the left. The elevation range is −5 to + 72 °.

The loading process with the semi-automatic shutter enables a rate of five to seven shots per minute for 15 minutes. Then the rate of fire must be reduced to two rounds per minute due to the thermal stress on the gun barrel. With the optional semi-automatic loading system, a three-shot fire can be fired within 16 seconds.

ammunition

GC-45 uses separately charged ammunition with variable propellant charge bags (zone charges) of the type N10 . This means that the projectile and the propellant charge are loaded one after the other. The extended-range full-bore bullets (ERFB) produced by the Hirtenberger cartridge factory are used together with the GHN-45 . With the ERFB-HB bullet, a shooting distance of around 30.3 km is achieved. With the extended range ERFB-BB bullet (with base bleed ) and a muzzle velocity of 895 m / s, the maximum shooting distance is 39.6 km. In addition, the GHN-45 can fire almost all 155 mm NATO ammunition . The M107 standard bullet reaches 17.8 to 24.7 km.

War missions

The GHN-45 gun was used in the First Gulf War and Second Gulf War . In addition, the gun is used by Iraq against the terrorist group " Islamic State " (IS).

distribution

  • LibyaLibya Libya - 30-60
  • IraqIraq Iraq - 200
  • IranIran Iran - 120-132
  • JordanJordan Jordan - unknown number
  • AustriaAustria Austria - 6 (only for testing)
  • Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia Saudi Arabia - 5 (of originally planned 50)
  • ThailandThailand Thailand - 90 (together with 12 GC-45)

literature

  • Christopher Chant: A Compendium of Armaments and Military Hardware. Routledge Revivals, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2014, ISBN 0-415-71072-3 .
  • International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS): The Military Balance 2016. Routledge Revivals, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2016, ISBN 1-85743-835-3 .
  • TJ O'Malley: Modern Artillery Systems. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany, 1996, ISBN 3-613-01758-X .
  • Terry J. Gander & Charles Q. Cutshaw: Jane's Ammunition Handbook, 2001-2002, 10th edition. Jane's Information Group, 2001, ISBN 0-7106-2308-9

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g GC-45. In: military-today.com. Military Today, accessed March 9, 2017 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g GH N-45 155 mm Howitzer. In: forecastinternational.com. Forecast International Inc., accessed March 7, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Terry J. Gander & Charles Q. Cutshaw: Jane's Ammunition Handbook, 2001-2002. Pp. 297-305.
  4. ↑ a b c d e T. J. O'Malley: Modern Artillery Systems. 1996, pp. 10-11.
  5. ↑ a b c Dietmar Mascher: Noricum: Arms trade under the Tuchent. In: nachrichten.at. Nachrichten.at, April 4, 2015, accessed on March 31, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Noricum scandal. In: dasrotewien.at - Web dictionary of the Viennese social democracy. SPÖ Vienna (Ed.)
  7. ↑ GH N-45. In: army-guide.com. Army Guide, accessed February 7, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Akshara Parakala: Defexpo 2018: Kalyani Group showcases Bharat 52 towed gun. In: janes.com. IHS Jane's 360, April 19, 2018, accessed January 29, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Soikot Banerjee: What is the difference between DRDO ATAGS and the Bharat 52 of the Kalyani Group? In: quora.com. Quora, May 25, 2017, accessed January 29, 2019 .
  10. ↑ a b c d e f g h Christopher Chant: A Compendium of Armaments and Military Hardware. 2014, pp. 82–83.
  11. ↑ 155-мм пушка-гаубица GHN-45. In: zonwar.ru. Большая военная энциклопедия, Retrieved March 7, 2017 (Russian).
  12. ^ Austrian Howitzer Fires on ISIS. In: military.com. Military.com, November 24, 2015, accessed January 29, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units GC-45 40KM ranged Artillery returns to service. In: Iraq Popular Mobilization Units Media. youtube.com, January 27, 2016, accessed February 3, 2017 .
  14. ↑ a b c Trade Register at sipri.org , accessed March 9, 2017
  15. ↑ International Institute for Strategic Studies: The Military Balance 2016. 2016, p. 328.
  16. ↑ International Institute for Strategic Studies: The Military Balance 2016. 2016, p. 293.