"G6 howitzer" Topic

"The G6, sometimes denoted as the G6 Rhino,[6] is a South African mine-protected self-propelled howitzer.[7] It was developed as a turreted, self-propelled variant of the G5 howitzer series, mating the gun to a six-wheeled armoured chassis.[8] Design work on the G6 began in the late 1970s to replace the obsolescent Sexton being retired from service with the artillery regiments of the South African Army.[9] Serial production commenced between 1988 and 1999.[4]

At the time of its introduction, the G6 was considered one of the most mobile self-propelled howitzers in service.[10] Its chassis was engineered to be mine-resistant and blastproof, allowing it to survive multiple TM-46 detonations during trials.[11] The G6 was conceived as a wheeled rather than a tracked vehicle for this purpose, as well as to allow it to deploy long distances by road without consuming excessive quantities of fuel or requiring a tank transporter.[11]

G6s entered service during the last two years of the South African Border War, frequently shelling positions held by the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) during the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.[12] Their ability to bombard a target and change positions rapidly in less than two minutes, with minimal preparation, greatly reduced the threat posed by retaliatory Angolan air raids and counter-battery fire.[13] A number of G6s were subsequently manufactured for export and purchased by Abu Dhabi and Oman.[14] Export models included a specialist anti-aircraft variant with a GEC-Marconi Marksman turret and twin-barrelled 35mm autocannon.[15]

Chile briefly produced the G6 under licence as the CC-SP-45, although this arrangement was later terminated after the system was not adopted by that country's armed forces.[4] Iraq also manufactured its own domestic variant of the G6[16] as the Al Majnoon with technical assistance from Canadian artillery engineer Gerald Bull, which later evolved into the much larger and more sophisticated Al Fao"
From Wiki

More here
link

Amicalement
Armand

I swear I saw one of those monsters on Fort Lewis in the US in about 2002…

Friend of mine who lives in SA has a big poster-sized photo of one drifting through the dust.

And I'm pretty sure they are more mobile outside of Russian-deep mud than even an M109.

Climbed all over one, they are big! Big fat tyres means they are pretty good in soft sand, but SA doesn't really have a gigamiles of mud problem so doesn't design for that

Lion, I *guarantee* what you saw on Ft Lewis circa 2002 was a Centauro wheeled tank destroyer:

link

The US Army borrowed some of them from Italy around 2001-2002 so the Soldiers of the then-developing Stryker Brigade Combat Team could develop and verify techniques and doctrine that they would use for their not-yet-delivered Strykers.

Why we used Centauro instead of borrowing something more tactically similar to Stryker ICVs (like getting some BTR-70 or -80 from anywhere former Warsaw Pact) is beyond me, but we definitely had some Centauros rolling around back then.

That's not the turret shape I remember, but I only saw it for a moment as the bus drove by and it *was* 15 years ago!

US should have used the Centauro (or at least the turret) instead of the Stryker MGS…

S&S Models sell one too.

link

Knowing their kits, it's bound to be accurate and easy to assemble..

Lion…. why would we have done that? Putting the Centauro turret on top would have made the vehicle much more top-heavy, and would have provided essentially the same gun, firing the exact same family of ammunition.

Buying Centauro instead of using the MGS would have additionally complicated issues by adding a whole additional vehicle family (and all the spare parts and maintenance/ mechanic support and spare parts requirements that come with it) to the logistics system. The MGS autoloader issues are largely sorted out, and it never really had the alleged tipping problems.

MGS does its job just fine. You just need to remember, it's not a tank. It's not even a tank destroyer (the Stryker TOW carrier fills that role). It is designed to give precise HE firepower to the infantry teams to reduce bunkers, buildings, and other strongpoints, and it does that just fine (in fact, the 105mm family of ammo is actually better for it than the 120mm NATO tank gun family of ammo!)