Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1258433
BWP M2A2 Bradley The West seems to exhibit a trend to further increase the caliber of automatic guns in the fighting vehicles. There are two reasons for this. The first one, of secondary nature, stems from the improved armor of the IFVs. When the front of the vehicle is hit, a 30 mm APDS round may not be sufficient to incapacitate the enemy. In the case of Puma, new Bradley vehicles, Ajax, CV9035MK3NL, Strrf.9040C, and a few other vehicles, even 30 mm APDFSDS-T rounds may have a tough time being even remotely effective. Increasing the caliber and penetration performance is necessary then. The second reason is related to the neutralization of soft targets with the use of ABM rounds (air-burst munition). In this case, the larger caliber makes it possible to make the projectiles more effective, as they would create more fragmentation, or contain more explosive material. In the West, calibers larger than 30 mm can be grouped in five separate design categories: 35x228 mm (KDA e.g. CV9035NL), 40x180 mm „Super 40" (USA), 40x255 mm CTAI (France and the UK), 40x356R Bofors (Strf.9040 and K21), and 50x355 mm Supershort (Originally developed in Germany, currently adopted in the US for the Super 40 gun). Each of the ammunition systems listed above had a different genesis, and the advantages and disadvantages of the individual solution also differ. KDA The Swiss-German KDA 35 mm gun has been developed as an anti-aircraft solution, hence its great ballistics and high rate of fire. It has also been marketed as IFV armament, to ultimately be integrated on the Dutch CV9035MK3NL platform for instance. Sabot rounds have 380 kJ muzzle energy. This translates into the ability to penetrate 130 mm of RHA. The explosive projectile carries up to 110 g of explosives, which is three times as much as in case of the 30 mm. What's relevant, effective, and proven airburst rounds have already been developed for the 35 mm guns. Unfortunately, the larger caliber also means that the vehicle carries much fewer rounds. In the case of the CV9035MK3NL there are only 2x35 rounds available ad hoc, and 203 rounds in total. This is half of the ammunition that was carried by the CV9030 with the older, 30 mm gun. The KDA 35 mm brochures cover this problem in detail, suggesting that, given the rounds are far more effective, the number of shots required to neutralize or destroy the threat is also lower. SUPER 40 The Super 40 (40x180 mm) rounds have been developed since 2001. Currently, this round is marketed in the United States as a low-cost proposal to increase the firepower. It is a slightly modified 30 mm round of identical length. Thus, it is easier to store large quantities of that ammunition. It is also quite easy to adopt the Mk 44 Bushmaster gun to fire those rounds. The round exhibits muzzle energy of 340 kJ which translates into the ability to penetrate 120 mm RHA at a 1000 m (plate inclined at 60 deg). The programmable MPAB-T projectile contains 70 grams of explosive material. What's important, the quantity that can be stored is at the level of 80 to 90% of that applicable to the 30x173 mm round. This means that any IFV can carry a sufficient quantity. The Super www.fragoutmag.com