Royal Navy prepares to roll out the big guns

[Anth]

The Royal Navy has enlisted the help of industry to design and produce a powerful 155mm heavy gun to beef up its existing warships and the fleet's sleek and stealthy new Type 45 destroyers.


The Navy's Type 45 Daring-class destroyers were designed to be able to carry a 155mm gun as a possible upgrade to their firepower
[Picture: MOD]

The MOD's Defence Technology & Innovation Centre (DTIC) is working with BAE Systems and QinetiQ to look at increasing the Royal Navy's firepower in support of land forces and construction of a prototype heavy gun is already underway. Once completed, the gun will undergo trials to assess its suitability for use on Royal Navy warships.

A new £4m contract will see BAE Systems and QinetiQ work together to build a trials gun mount and firing trials are scheduled to take place on an MOD range next year.

The prototype is based on the 155mm Howitzers now deployed by the British Army but with a much longer barrel and which fires shells that are twice as heavy as those fired by the Navy's current 1960s vintage 114mm calibre guns.

The new 155mm shells could deliver a 50 per cent improvement on the range of the Navy's existing 114mm shells with the increase in explosive power rendering the new shells four times as effective on targets.

The Navy's Type 45 Daring-class destroyers were designed to be able to carry a 155mm gun as a possible upgrade to their firepower.

MOD project leader Nick Overfield, Maritime Integrated Technology Team Leader at DTIC, said:

"We're looking at the possibility of going from the existing naval 114mm gun to a 155mm because there are potentially many advantages. They include much greater range, hugely increased effects on the target and our ability to use the same ammunition as the Army.

The prototype 155mm heavy gun in production
[Picture: MOD]

"There are many advanced types of 155mm shell in production or in development to which the Navy would have access were we to go down this route.

"We're also looking at doing it through a very cost-effective route. We believe – and these trials will tell us for sure – that the Navy's existing 114mm gun mount, as used on our frigates and destroyers, is strongly-built enough to deal with increased firing stresses of a 155mm gun.

"Our initial investigations have told us this appears to be the case. Now we plan to test our theory on the firing ranges.

"The study is still just that - a study - but we've made some exciting steps forward and will get to see the gun fire next year. If successful it gives us the option to proceed further towards manufacture and fit."

The new gun is one of eight projects in a three-year Maritime Surface Effects research programme, which examines a number of modern naval issues, including offensive and defensive surface warfare, coastal suppression and naval fire support as well as the role of unmanned surface vehicles.

MOD News Link

[Hooch Turner]

Anth I love the way the Royal Navy is towting this as a new improvement, the only difference between the Mk 8 Dual Purpose gun turret on the Type 45's to all the other ones we've had in service since the Type 21's and 82's is the faceted low radar signature fibre glass cover (same as on the Type 23 Frigate - given a Red Dwarf nickname of Kryten's by the Matelots).

The mount was always envisioned as being 'up gun-able' to 155mm by pulling in off the shelf systems from the Army's AS-90 155mm SP gun, itself using what is esscentially a version of our venerable FH-70 howitzer - which has been around since the mid 70's.

Spin doctory at its finest.

Point of note if memory serves, pretty sure the current Mark 8 was actually 1st fitted to an Irananian vessel in the early 70's and not a British type!!!