35/1000 (cannon)
The 35/1000 revolver cannon is a machine gun that was developed as the successor to the weapon systems based on the widespread Oerlikon 35mm twin cannons KDA, KDB and KDC. The development was carried out by the Swiss company Oerlikon Bührle , which today is part of the German Rheinmetall Defense together with Contraves AG as Oerlikon Contraves AG .
The designation of the gun consists of the caliber of 35 mm, the cadence of a maximum of 1000 rounds per minute and the structural design as automatic cannon together. The barrel of the cannon has a caliber length of 79, which corresponds to a barrel length of 2765 mm.
construction
The 35/1000 , as it is called for short, is a gas pressure charger with four chambers in a drum. When the cannon is fired, hot powder gases pass through a single gas bleed hole into two cylinders, the pistons of which operate the control slide. This control slide turns the revolver drum with the four cartridge chambers by 90 degrees after each shot. When the cannon is started up, the control slide is operated hydraulically so that loading can be carried out without firing a shot.
At the muzzle there is a system for measuring the muzzle velocity . One of the core components in the use of the weapon system is the AHEAD (Advanced Hit Efficiency and Destruction) air burst ammunition (ABM) introduced since the Oerlikon GDF-006 series . This is why the programming coil for this ammunition is integrated into the v 0 measuring system of the cannon. The revolver cannon is also able to fire practically any other 35 mm ammunition such as explosive fire ( HEI ) or armor piercing sabot ammunition ( APDS ), as long as it is fired mechanically, i.e. by a firing pin .
The gun is able to fire up to 1000 rounds per minute in continuous fire. But it can also be operated in single fire or fire short bursts of fire up to a rate of 200 rounds per minute.
The 35/1000 revolver cannon is doing the basic gun for integration into various weapon systems, turrets or towers vehicle, for example, infantry fighting vehicles . It is then mainly in the anti-aircraft used and against lightly armored targets. The cannon is now being installed in the GDM-008 Millennium naval combat tower and in the Skyshield land-based weapon system.
use
GDM-008 Millennium
The GDM-008 Millennium , also known as the Millennium Gun or Millennium Marine Gun , is a naval gun from Rheinmetall Defense. For use as a light ship gun by naval units for the primary tasks of air defense and the fight against enemy speedboats or submarines, a single 35/1000 was integrated into a combat tower with radar-reflecting, inclined cladding. The weapon system is controlled either by an existing fire control system or fully automatically as an autonomous complete system. 200 to 252 rounds of ammunition can be accommodated in the 3200 kg combat tower. This means that a maximum of eight approaching missiles can be fought. The ammunition is fed to the weapon without a belt and without a magazine. This makes it easy to replenish ammunition and different types of ammunition can easily be mixed. In addition to the regular ammunition allocation in the magazine, there is space for a further complete ammunition allocation in the platform structure on which the gun is mounted.
Due to the high muzzle velocity of 1050 m / s and the larger caliber in connection with the AHEAD ammunition, the GDM-008 is able to target anti-radar missiles at distances of over 1200 m, cruise missiles over 2000 m and combat aircraft or attack helicopters over 3500 m to combat. It is thus the only medium-caliber gun capable of effectively fighting approaching missiles over 1000 m. According to Rheinmetall, comparable systems effectively fight missiles only at around 500 m.
The turret was also one of the components of the US experimental ship SLICE , which ran in collaboration with Lockheed Martin as part of the US Fleet Battle Experiment - Julliet from July to August 2002. As a result of this test, the easy implementation of the weapon system in existing systems was positively stated. It was also the only system capable of recognizing the simulated periscope of a submerged submarine , activating it and fighting it with AHEAD ammunition.
In November 2004, chose Denmark for the GDM-008 weapon system for their use of supply ships of the Absalon class , with one gun on the bow and the stern is mounted. In addition, seven other NATO countries have opted for the millennium weapon system. A scaled-down version of the Millennium gun is used on the BVL patrol boats of the Venezuela Navy.
Skyshield
The Skyshield 35 (GDF-007) is a modular short-range anti-aircraft weapon system. It was developed by the Swiss company Oerlikon Contraves, now part of Rheinmetall Defense.
The anti-aircraft weapon system includes a fire control device and up to four fire units. The fire control device in turn consists of a sensor module with two independent 3D target tracking systems (radar in X-band and optronic) as well as the command post with power supply and control unit. The command post can be set up up to 500 m away from the sensor module. The fire units usually consist of two 35/1000 revolver cannons and two launchers with short-range surface-to-air missiles that are incorporated into the system.
Skyshield is used as an autonomous anti-aircraft weapon system for short ranges against low-flying aircraft and helicopters as well as against ballistic missiles such as rockets, artillery shells and mortar shells (RAM). Here, too, the effectiveness is based on the possibility of using the AHEAD ammunition . The Skyshield also forms the basis for the short-range protection system MANTIS , which the German Armed Forces procure to protect field camps.
The weapon system can be transported to the object to be protected by a truck or helicopter and set up there, where it can act completely autonomously. Skyshield can also be networked with other weapon systems.
future
The 35/1000 is intended as a cannon module for the Bundeswehr's planned air defense system . It would then be the direct successor to the well-known Oerlikon 35 mm twin cannons in the successor to the Gepard anti-aircraft gun .
Web links
swell
- ↑ Information on Oerlikon Contraves AG on the Rheinmetall Defense website ( memo from November 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ NavWeaps.com on the Millennium Gun (Eng.)
- ↑ Rheinmetall press release on the system ( Memento from June 29, 2007 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ Global Security on SLICE