The present invention relates to an artillery gun having a heavy weapon that is disposed on a carrier vehicle. Such an artillery gun is described in the European patent EP 0 331 980 B1 in an embodiment as an armored howitzer. This armored howitzer has a carrier vehicle that is embodied as a tracked vehicle, with a rotatable turret that is disposed behind the center of the vehicle and on which is disposed a heavy weapon that is pivotable in elevation. Disposed within the vehicle, in the region of the center of the vehicle, are projectile magazines in which the projectiles are upright relative to the base of the vehicle, while leaving free a passageway that extends essentially in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. An automatic projectile feed mechanism is present via which a respective projectile is grasped out of the projectile magazine and, accompanied by rotation and orientation, is conveyed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle into the region behind the end of the weapon, and there, accompanied by orientation in azimuth and elevation to the direction of the weapon at any given time, is raised into the loading position. The projectile feed mechanism has a projectile transfer arm that is pivotably mounted on the trunnion of the weapon and is moveable, independently of the as a ramming device being disposed on the free end of the transfer arm in the region behind the weapon. In the raised position of the projectile transfer arm, the charger is aligned relative to the axis of the bore of the weapon, and in the lowered position of the projectile transfer arm is oriented in the vertical direction. Further portions of the automatic projectile feed mechanism are disposed in the interior of the vehicle, and in particular a projectile transporter having a transport arm on the end of which is disposed a pivotable gripping device, as well as a standby member that disposed behind it, is displaceably guided in a transport rail, and can be disposed in a transfer position parallel to the charger. By means of the projectile transporter, the projectiles are removed from a projectile magazine and, accompanied by rotation and orientation, are conveyed by the standby member and the charger into the region behind the end of the weapon and are raised into the loading position. Further details of the known artillery gun are described in the above-cited document.
This artillery gun, which is generally known and introduced under the characterization PzH 2000, has a transport mass of altogether 49 t, and cannot be divided for transport in such a way that the individual parts have a maximum transport weight of 27 t and can thus also be transported with medium-sized aircraft.
Proceeding from the armored howitzer described in the above-cited document, the object of the invention is to provide an artillery gun having a heavy weapon disposed on a carrier vehicle that on the whole has a lighter weight construction and in addition can be divided into numerous parts, without great expense, for transport with medium-sized aircraft.
The basic concept of the invention is to construct the artillery gun from a plurality of modules, at least one of which represents the carrier vehicle, and at least one of which contains the heavy weapon. Further modules contain components of the automatic projectile feed mechanism and the munitions magazines. The modules are constructed in such a way that at least some of them can be assembled to form larger units in an easy to again separate form.
Pursuant to a first, basic embodiment, a total of four modules are connected to form a common unit. The first module contains the heavy weapon, which is pivotable in elevation, as well as a portion of the projectile feed mechanism, the second module contains further components of the projectile feed mechanism, the third module contains projectile magazines, and the fourth module forms the carrier vehicle and can represent a motor vehicle, of a known and used series, that is embodied as a wheeled vehicle having four axles.
However, it can also be embodied as a motor vehicle having chain mechanisms.
The first module is disposed on the second module so as to be rotatable in azimuth, which second module, together with the third module, is mounted on the carrier vehicle. Already in this embodiment, the artillery gun as a whole can have a much lighter construction than the known armored howitzer, thus making air transport possible. However, the modules can also be separated from one another. It has been shown to be advantageous with this embodiment if the first, second and third modules are connected to form a common unit, whereby a ground support unit, which in the platform of a carrier vehicle is extendable downwardly, is provided for the stabilization of the unit in the firing position. It can furthermore be advantageous if the first, second and third modules are placed as a common unit on the fourth module and are connected therewith, and the unit can be uncoupled from the fourth module, can be raised, and can be loaded separately from the fourth module, and can also be placeable on the ground in an independent manner by means of a ground support unit.
Pursuant to a further basic embodiment of the invention, some of the modules are respectively joined together to build two units that are separate from one another. Thus, the first module, which contains the weapon, is connected with the fourth module, which represents a carrier vehicle, to form a first unit, while the second and third modules are connected with a fifth module, which is also embodied as a carrier vehicle, to form a second unit. The modules that represent the carrier vehicles are again embodied as a motor vehicle, of a known type (GTK), that represents a wheeled vehicle having four axles. As will be explained in greater detail subsequently with the aid of specific embodiments, with this embodiment the first unit contains the weapon with a portion of the projectile feed mechanism, and the second unit contains the munitions magazines, possibly propellant charge magazines, as well as a further portion of the projectile feed mechanism. Pursuant to a first variant, the first unit can be embodied in such a way that the firing operation is effected directly from the carrier vehicle. In this case, the two units can be coupled together to form a common unit. However, a variant is also possible where, at the first unit, for accommodating the firing operation, the weapon is pivoted away from the carrier vehicle and is placed upon the ground. Details of this embodiment and its variants will be described further subsequently. Also with this fundamental embodiment, the weight of the two units can be limited such that air transport with medium-sized aircraft is possible.
Embodiments for an artillery gun pursuant the invention will be explained in greater detail subsequently with the aid of the accompanying drawings.
The drawings show:
b in an illustration analogous to
As can be seen from
Module I contains a heavy weapon W, which is supported within the module I so as to be pivotable in elevation about a trunnion axis and that at its end is provided with a projectile delivery or transfer arm that is pivotable about the trunnion axis, can be moved in the plane of elevation, and that at its free end has disposed a charger L having a positioning or ramming device A. In the raised position of the projectile transfer arm Ü illustrated by way of example in
As can be seen from
The modules II and III that are disposed below the module I, and which can be embodied as a common unit having a common housing, contain, in an only indicated manner, projectile magazines G1 and G2 as well as a projectile transporter G, which has a not separately illustrated transport arm, on the end of which is disposed a pivotable gripping device. By means of the projectile transporter G, the projectiles are grasped out of the projectile magazines G1 and G2, and accompanied by rotation and orientation are placed into a stand-by member B that is only indicated in
Details of this munition flow from the projectile magazines G1 and G2 to the region behind the weapon are described in detail in EP 0 331 980 B1 and proceed in the same manner as described there.
The modules II and III are supported on the chassis of a module IV that, as can be seen from
As can be seen in
While driving and for transport, the weapon W can be connected to the module III via a clamping device Z.
As illustrated in
The uncoupling and raising of the modules I to III from the module IV, and the loading into an aircraft, can be carried out in a manner similar to a method and via a transport system such as described in EP 0 664 431 B1.
In the transport position, the weapon W can be clamped to the module IV′ via a device 15.
The modules IV′ and V′ are again carrier vehicles that each form a motor vehicle of a known series (GTK) that is embodied as a wheeled vehicle having four axles. With the first variant of the first unit of this embodiment illustrated in
Since with this embodiment the firing operation is effected directly from the vehicle, it is necessary to provide a ground support unit. This unit is disposed in the rear portion. Disposed on the lower gun mount 8 are pivotable support arms 11 and 12 that can be telescopically extended and that at their free ends carry support plates 11.1 and 12.1 and that, as can be seen from the drawings, are extendable toward the rear and can be placed upon the ground via the support plates 11.1 and 12.1. Furthermore, the embodiment is provided with a platform 13 from which the firing operation is carried out and from which also the sighting and control device 14 is operated. This embodiment also has a projectile transfer arm Ü′, having a charger L′, that is pivotable about the trunnion axis. The feeding of the projectiles and the propellant charges is effected with this embodiment from the second unit illustrated in
Disposed above the projectile magazines G1′ and G2′ in the module III′ are band magazines 16 and 17 for accommodating propellant charges.
Illustrated in
The specification incorporates by reference the disclosure of German priority document 101 42 565.1 filed Aug. 30, 2001 and PCT/DE02/03047 filed Aug. 21, 2002.
The present invention is, of course, in no way restricted to the specific disclosure of the specification and drawings, but also encompasses any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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101 42 565 | Aug 2001 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/DE02/03047 | 8/21/2002 | WO | 00 | 3/18/2004 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO03/025494 | 3/27/2003 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4947728 | Muhlhausen et al. | Aug 1990 | A |
4966064 | Kaustrater et al. | Oct 1990 | A |
5054367 | Heldmann et al. | Oct 1991 | A |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
36 42 920 | Jun 1988 | DE |
37 19 298 | Dec 1988 | DE |
40 14 192 | Nov 1991 | DE |
40 14 195 | Nov 1991 | DE |
44 26 607 | Feb 1995 | DE |
0 331 980 | Sep 1989 | EP |
0 723 905 | Jul 1996 | EP |
2 011 747 | Mar 1970 | FR |
2 605 095 | Apr 1988 | FR |
2 613 061 | Sep 1988 | FR |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20040216597 A1 | Nov 2004 | US |