Defense & Security Thailand 2019: John Cockerill Defense’s C3030 turret to be fitted by PT.Lundin on X18 Tank Boat.

A C3030 unmanned turret armed with a 30mm gun will be delivered to PT Lundin to be fitted on an X18 Tank Boat in the Spring of 2020. The Tank Boat should also benefit from the reconnaissance and observation assets provided by a VTOL drone 6Y specifically designed for military use by Northseadrones.

Abraham Mose (CEO of PT Pindad), John Lundin (CEO of North Sea Drones), and Thierry Renaudin (CEO of John Cockerill Defense) talking about the mounting of a John Cockerill Defense C3030 turret on the X18 Tank Boat associated to a VTOL drone 6Y (Picture source: Army Recognition)

While visiting Defense & Security Thailand 2019 on the opening day, Thierry Renaudin, CEO of John Cockerill Defense, announced to Army Recognition that a C3030 turret will be delivered to PT Lundin who will mount it on an X18 Tank Boat. Sea and firing trials will start in the Spring of 2020. A C3105 turret could also be supplied if requested.

The X18 Tank Boat draws strong attention from several military delegations (Picture source: Army Recognition)

The association between an X18 Tank Boat and a John Cockerill Defense C3105 turret draws attention from high-level visitors (Picture source: Army Recognition)

John Lundin grew up with boats, as his father Allan Lundin founded the Swedeship company which operated shipyards including Gotland shipyard and Djupvik Shipyard in Sweden. After the Swedish shipyard crisis, the Swedeship company was the largest privately owned boat building company in Sweden. It was through Swedeship that John first came to Indonesia in the mid-1990's to investigate the company's expansion opportunities. Allan Lundin died from cancer in 1996, and Swedeship was sold. However the family dream of a shipyard in Indonesia still remained, so John and his Indonesian wife Lizza moved there permanently. After some years of small-scale furniture manufacturing to gain experience of the business culture there, they founding the boat building company North Sea Boats in 2003.

The boats are constructed using modern composite production techniques such as dual surface vacuum core resin infusion. All materials used are LLoyds / DNV Class Approved, and include carbon composite fiber and E Glass multi-axial non-woven stitched reinforcements and Vinyl Ester resins. The various models incorporate "open architecture" deck plans that can be configured to perform multi-role tasks in a broad range of operational environments. They can be powered by inboard diesel engines, outboard motors or by transom drives and waterjets.

X18 Tank Boat with John Cockerill Defense C3105 turret (Picture source: Army Recognition)

X18 Tank Boat

The X18 Tank Boat is an innovative, fast, stealthy, and highly maneuverable catamaran design that provides a stable weapons platform for close-in and long-range direct fire support in normally inaccessible coastal and riverine Environments. Fitted with high-performance diesel engines and water jet propulsion, the twin-hull (catamaran) configuration has excellent sea keeping properties and the added advantage of shallow draft. Giving it the ability to execute beach and river landings and insert or extract squads of up to 20 Special Forces or Marines. The X18 Tank Boat has a crew of 6, and will also carry a High-speed Interdiction RIB for boarding and SEAL insertion.

The main weapon system of the X18 Tank Boat is the John Cockerill Defense Cockerill 3105 turret. This system is based on a versatile and powerful high-pressure low recoil-force Cockerill 105mm gun. Fully stabilised, accurate by day or night, and able to use a wide range of NATO standard 105mm ammunition, this weapon system directly engages a broad spectrum of targets at up to 5,000m range, and indirectly engages targets to 10,000m range. The powerful, accurate and flexible Cockerill C3105 weapon system gives the X18 Tank Boat Commander a wide range of tactical options at all stages of his mission.

The 105mm is also capable of firing the Cockerill Falarick 105 Gun Launched Anti-Tank Guided Missile (GLATGM). Elevating to +42° the weapon delivers exceptional engagement capability in complex situations, and the GLATGM permits hard and Point target to be engaged at extended ranges (up to 5 km). The mounting of this type of system allows for flexibility in logistics with the various calibres already in common use with NATO and other major military powers. This is the first time that any company has conceived of mounting this type of system aboard a small, fast and stealthy catamaran that with only a 1-meter draught makes it ideally suited for the confines of coastal waterway operations.

John Lundin comments for Army Recognition Group's Defense Web TV about the assets provided by Northseadrones' VTOL drone 6Y (Picture source: Army Recognition)

VTOL Drone 6Y

This exceptional drone purely designed by Northseadrones for military use weighs 10 kg without a 1.5kg payload, has a 40-minute endurance, can fly from 0 to 90 km/h (which means that it can usefully operate among winds blowing at speeds reaching 50 to 60 km/h), and benefits from a 10km communication range (far enough for reconnaissance and surveillance missions assigned to such a ship). It can operate either preplanned tasks or manually. Its capabilities make it an ideal associate “partner” for the X18 Tank Boat, for example. But it can naturally be associated with a wide array of ships.