BIGGER AND BADDER

Infantry Fighting Vehicle operators want more punch from their medium calibre cannons - and onboard missiles will increase the number of blows they can deliver.

- Christopher F Foss

The latest generation of Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV) are being armed with larger calibre weapons which have increased range and fire more effective ammunition.

The main drawback of moving to a larger calibre is that less ammunition is carried but this is offset by the greater effectiveness of the ammunition. Some of these larger calibre weapons are installed in one or two-person turrets while others operate in remote-controlled turrets (RCT).

A computerised fire control system (FCS) is usually fitted enabling the main armament to engage threat targets when the platform is stationary or moving. The weapon, which is stabilised, is laid onto the target by the gunner and/or the commander who are normally provided with an integrated stabilised day/ thermal sighting systems incorporating a laser rangefinder.

While there is some standardisation in members of NATO on larger calibre tank (120mm smoothbore) and artillery (155mm) ammunition there is a complete lack of standardisation in medium calibre weapons in NATO with calibres of 20mm, 25mm, 30mm, 35mm and 40mm currently being deployed.

The opposite is the case for the Russian Army and former members of the Warsaw Pact who use the 30mm 2A42 dual-feed cannon. Typical installations including the BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), BMD-2 and BMD-3 airborne assault vehicles (AAV) and many others.

Ammunition

While the main thrust of this article is on the actual weapon, development of ammunition is always on going with medium calibre weapons now firing armour piercing fin stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS) and air-burst munitions (ABM). The latter are more expensive but are highly effective against dug-in infantry.