76/62mm
gun and its ammunition: the story of a success
The 76/62 SR, today in service with 58 Navies worldwide, is
a multirole medium caliber naval gun mount, designed for anti-missile
and anti-aircraft as main role, and conceived for installation
on multipurpose ships of any class and type.
From the operational point of view, the 76/62 gun can fire at the max
rate of fire (120 rds/min) all the loaded ammunition, without interruption,
delivering a huge amount of ammunition payload on the target Vs time,
also on very distant targets. The 76/62 gun’s powerful and stabilized
servo systems allow fast reaction to re-phasing commands from one target
to the other and precision and accuracy in aiming.
Moreover the mount can also be fitted with a dual or multiple
ammunition feeding system in order to provide the User with the capability
to easily and rapidly select, from the carousel, different types of
ammunition, in accordance with the incoming threats.
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| The 76/62 gun mount
can be deployed for:
In
particular the latest developments in the ammunition field have brought
the 76/62 gun mount to an excellency in terms of lethality in counter-acting
asymmetric threats and air targets including both high speed manoeuvring
missiles and the new NGS and ASuW requirements, emerging from Littoral
warfare.
The 3AP fuze, can fit the 76/62 pre-fragmented ammunition,
ensuring top performances in critical engagement conditions, such as
those involving sea skimming missiles and fast manoeuvring boats. The
3AP fuze can be programmed in three operating modes:
- Impact (Fast
and Delayed Action)
- Time (Volume
Saturation and Air Burst)
- Proximity (Standard,
Gated, Anti-Missile, Conventional Air Defence, Air Defence, Anti Surface)
The
3AP fuze has a microwave RF sensor which behaves like a seeker detecting
the target at long range. The relative velocity and position are measured
and a built-in CPU sets up the trigger point of maximum lethality. Moreover
a Digital Signal Processor provides full rejection of sea clutter at
minimal distance from sea surface.
All the 76/62 gun mount including the ones already in service can be
upgraded by the introduction of a Fuze Programmer Device.
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To
fulfil the new challenging requirements like manoeuvring anti-ship missiles
even the supersonic ones, Oto Melara has developed the DART
(Driven Ammunition with Reduced Time of flight) guided projectile, capable
to be re-vectored towards the target during its time of flight.
DART ammunition can be fired by the 76mm Strales system, that presents
new features:
- double ammunition feeding system,
- digital console
- guidance antenna
- gun shield r
- electronic equipment specifically designed for the DART ammunition
guidance.
STRALES is extremely effective against today generation
of anti-ship missiles and also in ASuW, especially where simultaneous
engagement of multiple manoeuvring targets is involved, cooperating
with the unique sustained firing capability of 76mm gun.
DART is a sub-calibre projectile with canard which is directed to the
target by the guidance beam generated by an antenna placed on the gun
mount within a protective shield Its effectiveness is further increased
by pre-fragmented warhead and 3AP microwave programmable fuze.
The extraordinary results achieved with DART, especially related to
aerodynamic and guidance, combined with the positive and successful
experience matured with the Vulcano 127mm family of ammunition, have
led Oto Melara to opportunely scale the latter, to re-use the electronic
and aerodynamic of the DART and work on the realization of the VULCANO
76 family of ammunition.
As a matter of fact, by providing guidance technology in Anti Surface
Warfare and in Naval Gun Support scenarios, VULCANO 76 is ideally complementary
to DART, the guided ammunition for the Oto Melara 76mm Naval guns which
is currently in production for AAW.
The objective of the VULCANO 76 program is to allow the 76/62mm Naval
Artilleries to reach a substantial increase of range and pin point accuracy
when engaging surface threats, as well as supporting troops or neutralising
valuable targets onshore.
The guidance technology provided for this new family of ammunition is
based upon GPS and IR guidance (and SAL in the future), allowing “fire
and forget” operations. It therefore can respond to the requirement
of split fire distribution: a target further ahead can be engaged with
no need to wait for lethality assessment on the previous target.
This requirement is considered particularly important since there is
a consolidated trend in littoral warfare operations where a single gun
may be requested to engage multiple targets within short distances and
short reaction time.
With both GPS and IR guidance, VULCANO 76 is capable to ensure top level
accuracy at a range in excess of 40 Km. For the ballistic version (unguided),
a range in excess of 30 Km is reachable with an accuracy better than
standard ammunition.
Visit Oto Melara at DIMDEX 2012 on stand #N-121 |
