"Out of Sight: Russia's New Self-Propelled Howitzer..." Topic

… Leaves the West Behind.

"The first batch of state-of-the-art Koalitsiya-SV self-propelled guns will be supplied to the Russian Armed Forces beginning in 2020. The system is undergoing field tests now, but it is already clear that it leaves its best Western counterparts far behind, RIA contributor Andrei Kots wrote.

First seen in public during rehearsals for the 2015 Victory Day parade in Moscow the Koalitsiya-SV is built around an auto-loaded 152 mm howitzer capable of firing up to 16 rounds a minute, twice as much as any other modern main battle tank.

Targeting is done via satellite navigation or a laser target indicator…"
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Amicalement
Armand

The problem with fast firing is dissipation of heat. One of the reasons the Abrams can fire as fast as it does is that it is smooth bore and the rounds fired have fins. Less drag in the barrel means less heat to dissipate.

How can a 152mm howitzer fire that fast and not burn out the barrel?

I think that the 16rpm is actually a burst fire mode and probably used for a burst of rounds and then vehicle move operation rather than 16rpm over long periods.

Also this is an SPG artillery gun and hence velocity probably lower than MBT gun and hence barrel wear lower.

The USN's 155mm gun has a liquid-cooled barrel, and about that same rate of fire.

Soviet weapons and auto loaders have not had a happy marriage.

The Swedish B-kan fired 14 rounds in 45 seconds. Also a 155 howitzer like this one. It was a bit limited though as the shells were like supersize rifle rounds that is the grenade and propellant was in a shell casing.

ointres.se/bkan_1.htm

some pictures

Thanks!

Amicalement
Armand

The big problem I see with an artillery autoloader is the charge levels. Having a two-step loading process is simply slower, but having to adjust charge levels is a pain in the butt.

I really think you'd need to set up a 'pre-charging' station to load the individual charges into a single, ready-to-chamber stack and then load that as a single step into the gun. It's an additional step above even 2-piece tank ammo.

Not that it can't be done, of course, the US was kicking around something like that with the Crusader SPG.