EGYPT TO PRODUCE ARTILLERY [under license from Finland]

MENL ^ | 11/24/2003

[yonif]

LONDON [MENL] -- Egypt has completed an agreement to manufacture artillery systems under license from Finland.

Industry sources said the Egyptian Army has launched a project to produce the 155 mm towed howitzer by Finland's Patria Vammas. The agreement calls for the production of Patria's 155 GH 52 155mm towed howitzers.

The contract calls for Egyptian production to take place at the Abu Zaabal Engineering Industries Co. The London-based Jane's Defence Weekly reported that the artillery would be designated the E52 and that Egypt would obtain technology to produce the system.

The Patria 155 GH 52 has a range of 41.3 kilometers. The howitzer is a 155 mm and 52 caliber system.

[yonif]

Ping.

[The KG9 Kid]

Those artillery pieces oughtta complement nicely those hundreds of M1 tanks we gave the Egyptians for free, and now allowed them to produce domestically under license.

[RightWhale]

This is great! Egypt will be able to lay siege to any city from 25 miles away. Al Khartum will soon be freed from the hands of, uh, the, uh, foreign invaders.

[68skylark]

The Patria 155 GH 52 has a range of 41.3 kilometers.

I cannot believe this range figure is accurate. If it is, their artillery has almost three times the range of what U.S. guns will do. (Our RAP rounds can go a little farther, but still only half this distance.)

[RLK]

I thought the range of our 155s was 19 miles.

[68skylark]

I'm familiar with M114 howitzers that shoot 14,400 meters (or maybe 18,000 with RAP rounds). The range of the M198 with standard ammo is said to be 22,400 meters. With a RAP round it's 30,000 meters. I don't believe this Finnish piece can shoot over 40,000 meters -- that sounds wrong.

[RLK]

I just did a howitzer internet search. There are several self-propelled and towed models with several barrel lengths. Tops on the self-propelled is 30,000 meters with standard ammunition. That's about 2 miles short of what I believed. With assisted shells the range is supposed to be 40,000 meters. The question becomes what kind of barrel length s are being used. Any additional information you did up will be appreciated. My military library is mostly in storage.

[68skylark]

Are you familiar with the globalsecurity.org websites? The more I learn about their information the more amazed and impressed I am.

Here's their article on the M198:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/m198.htm

They also have an article on the M114, the system I mostly used. Heck, they've got articles on everything, at least in the U. S. system. (And they may have articles on foreign gear for all I know.)

In my experiene, artillery isn't real accurate at it's maximum range. And the RAP shells tend to be less accurate than most. The 40,000 metere range mentioned in this article seems hard for me to accept, but maybe I just haven't been keeping up with the latest technology.

(Seems to me I saw an article in Field Artillery Journal that complained some Iraqi artillery and missle systems had longer range than our systems. That was the July-August issue and it's probably available from the Ft. Sill website. So maybe it's posslibe that our enemies are getting better gear than I realize.)

[anguish]

I know the Swedish army has tested two new artillery systems, the British AS 90 Braveheart and the German Panzerhaubize 2000, both 155mm with a 40.000 metre range. The barrel for the AS 90 is 8 metres, but I don't know the stats for the P2000.

[Steelerfan]

Thought you guys could comment on the range issue. I remember reading that the SA guy (Bull?) has designed a 155mm piece that outranged its US equivalnet in the 1980's, but not any details. Any thoughts?

[Poohbah]

What good is a very long range if you can't acquire targets at that distance?

[Steelerfan]

Good point, unless you intend to use it for general harassment (or plastering large, hard to miss areas like cities).

[Poohbah]

Good point, unless you intend to use it for general harassment (or plastering large, hard to miss areas like cities).

Destroying a city with artillery takes longer than the guns' operational life in an era of counterbattery radar.

[Steelerfan]

Again, good point, and rereading the article, I notice it is a towed system which would seem to make even more vulnerable to the response you described. So, what is the point of the acquisition?

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Free Republic Gun Bunny Ping List material

[76834]

I have the utmost respect for the Finns
They stopped the Red Army cold in WWII

[Poohbah]

Again, good point, and rereading the article, I notice it is a towed system which would seem to make even more vulnerable to the response you described. So, what is the point of the acquisition?

Lots of Turd World nations buy shiny weapons systems without buying the logistics or tactical infrastructure needed to support it.

[anguish]

Well, with terminally guided shells it's not that much of a problem anymore. There are probably plenty of those around, but the only one I know of is the Swedish BONUS

[archy]

Thought you guys could comment on the range issue. I remember reading that the SA guy (Bull?) has designed a 155mm piece that outranged its US equivalnet in the 1980's, but not any details. Any thoughts?

Do a Websearch for Space Research Corporation </a<[of Canada] Or S.R.C., or the South African G-5 155 mm gun, some details of which you'll find here. See also base-bleed projectile, and 155mm, as search terms.

You're talking around a 40KM range for the G5 and PxH 2000; there are US Rocket Assist Projectiles that equal or better that...now. The Israelis are also really up to speed with the 155mm developments, and the Finns, considering replacement of their Soviet 152mm guns. Even the old WWII *Long Tom* 155mm guns can be upgraded to take advantage of the SRC projectile improvements; Gerry Bull reallly was a genius in the field.

I was a consultant to SRC on a different project in the late 1970s and early '80s, initially involving the 105mm L7/M68 tank gun. But that's enough said of that.

-archy-/-