UK orders 40mm cannon for tracked armoured vehicles
Contributor: Victor M. S. Barreira
Posted: 07/13/2015 12:00:00 AM EDT
UK orders 40mm cannon for tracked armoured vehicles
CTA International (CTAI), the joint venture between BAE Systems and Nexter Systems, has been awarded a £150 million contract from the UK’s Ministry of Defence for the full production scale output of the automatic cannon part of CTAS (Cased Telescoped Armament System) weapon system.
The contract covers the production of the 40mm cannon for several of the 589 Scout SV armoured fighting vehicles General Dynamics UK will build for the British Army, and for the British Army’s Warrior infantry fighting vehicles being modernised by Lockheed Martin UK for the WCSP (Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme) programme.
The contract awarded by the British Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) will see the company deliver 515 cannons over seven years, with the first cannons scheduled for delivery in 2016. It will also supply initial spares, special tools, test equipment and training equipment.
CTAS is composed of different types of ammunition; 40mm cannon; gun mount; the ammunition handling system; gun control equipment; and the weapon system’s controller. It has been developed with full support of DE&S and French Direction Générale de l´Armement (DGA). The United Kingdom and France have jointly worked on the CTAS project under a memorandum of understanding and technical arrangement signed on September 2009.
The 40mm cannon was designed to fire the company’s Target Practice Reduced Range-Tracer (TPRR-T), Armour Piercing Fin Stabilised Discarding Sabot-Tracer (APFSDS-T), Target Practice-Tracer (TP-T), General Purpose Round Point Detonating-Tracer (GPR-PD-T), General Purpose Round Airburst-Tracer (GPR-AB-T) and A3B (Anti-Aerial Airburst) ammunition.
The 40mm cannon and TP-T and APFSDS-T ammunition were already qualified. The next phase is the completion of the certification testing for the GPR–PD and GPR-AB ammunition.
The CTAS system will also arm the Nexter’ T40M modular protected turret chosen for the 248 Jaguar 6x6 armoured combat vehicles being built for the French Army by Nexter Systems, Renault Trucks Defense and Thales according a contract placed in December 2014 by the DGA. The vehicle will replace the French Army’s existing AMX-10 RCR and ERC-90D Sagaie 6x6 combat reconnaissance vehicles, and the VAB 4x4 armoured carriers equipped with MÉPHISTO quad-launcher for HOT anti-tank missiles.
The 40mm cannon also boasts the RAPIDFire 6x6 high-mobility truck-mounted self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system developed by Thales.
