Artillery is Bofors' specialty, and 155mm FH77 howitzer is its trump card. Developed in the early 1970s, this kind of artillery is still one of the most automated towed artillery systems in the world. The hydraulic device is used to aim at the height and direction. It is equipped with an 80 kW four-cylinder water-cooled auxiliary propulsion engine, which can move at a speed of 8 km/h, with a total combat weight of 1 1.7 tons and a maximum range of 2 1.7 km. Delivered to the Swedish army on 1978.
The improved FH77B of FH77 is export-oriented and has been sold to Nigeria, India and other countries. Although its firing rate is slightly reduced, it can fire all NATO155mm ammunition. It is installed on the chassis of a 6×6 all-terrain vehicle, becoming a self-propelled howitzer with reasonable cost, which can change from marching state to fighting state within 50 seconds, and the gunner is also protected by armored vehicles. Bofors is also developing a 155mm self-propelled howitzer system (SPA) with a firing rate of 16-20 rounds/min. It uses NATO standard ammunition with an initial velocity of 450- 1000m/s, with a range of 50km when firing standard ammunition and1when firing special ammunition. After the cancellation of the American Crusader artillery plan, this type of artillery will be in a favorable position in the future artillery competition.
Small and medium caliber artillery
The 40mm L/60 antiaircraft gun successfully developed by 1936 is Bofors' most famous product. The barrel is water-cooled, and the firing rate is 160 rounds per minute. The improved L/70 in 1948 has a firing rate of 330 rounds per minute and a range of 4 kilometers in the air. This kind of anti-aircraft gun was equipped with warships of almost all participating countries during World War II, including single-pack, double-pack and four-pack, which can be installed on any kind of ship, and also derived from army type and air force type. The AC- 130 "air gunboat" of the US Air Force is still equipped.
Three-in-one air defense turret is a vehicle-mounted short-range air defense weapon developed by Bofors Company for front-line field troops. It uses the 1 L/70B 40 mm gun to fire the 40 mm 3P ammunition specially developed by Bofors Company (that is, prefabricated fragments, programmable, equipped with proximity fuze) to intercept helicopters and other low-altitude targets. The warhead is equipped with 1000 tungsten alloy prefabricated balls with an effective range of 6 kilometers. The turret is also equipped with a search radar, an optical search system with night vision capability and a fire control system with damage assessment capability. The gun can also attack light armored targets when launching a 40 mm tail stabilized armor-piercing projectile.
Bofors also developed TRIDON high-mobility short-range field air defense system, and installed 1 Bofors 40mm rapid-fire anti-aircraft gun and fire control system on 1 Volvo 825C 6×6 all-terrain truck. It takes only 60 seconds to switch from the marching state to the fighting state, and a 40mm 3P full target bomb is fired, which has been equipped with Swedish naval shore defense guns.
CV90 is the most advanced tracked armored vehicle family in Sweden. Bofors is in charge of its turret and weapon system. This 70B 40 mm gun is developed from 40 mm towed anti-aircraft gun and is the largest caliber gun in the western active infantry fighting vehicles. The gun weighs 6 15g, and can be equipped with tail stabilized armor-piercing projectile, prefabricated fragment Grenade, multi-purpose tracer and tracer training projectile. Ammunition supply mode is changed from four magazine tops to magazine tops. Its initial velocity is 1025 m/s, and it can deal with armored and non-armored targets, as well as aircraft and helicopters. Tail-stabilized armor-piercing projectile adopts tungsten alloy core, with length-diameter ratio greater than 15, initial velocity 1600 m/s, 1500-2000 m distance and vertical armor-piercing thickness110 mm. Although it can't directly deal with light main battle tanks, it can attack light main battle tanks.
57mm MK3 is a digital remote-controlled naval gun, which uses a stealth turret with a weight of 13t, and can be installed on ships with a displacement exceeding 150t (such as the newly equipped F-2000 frigate in Malaysia). MK3 can fire 57mm 3P bullets, and the automatic loading system has 120 bullets, with a maximum firing rate of 220 rounds/min and a range of 17km. Velocity radar can accurately measure the speed of shells, and the explosion mode is set by computer.
The newly improved 40 mm MK3 automatic naval gun system can be used as both an anti-aircraft gun for large ships and a main gun for small ships. It uses a 40 mm 3P bomb with an initial velocity of 1 100 m/s, a firing rate of 330 rounds/min and a maximum range of 12500 m. The turret is made of aluminum alloy to reduce electromagnetic characteristics, and can also be operated manually.
ammunition
3P ammunition is the original creation of Bofors, with 40 mm and 57 mm calibers. Its fuze can be set to six working modes, including proximity bombing mode for dealing with small targets such as missiles, airplanes and helicopters, collision priority delay proximity bombing mode for dealing with transport planes and large helicopters, continuous proximity bombing mode for dealing with artillery without programming device, delay mode for dealing with ground targets, trigger proximity bombing mode for dealing with trucks and boats and armor-piercing trigger mode for dealing with light armored vehicles. According to different targets, before each shell is launched, its electronic fuze will be connected with the fire control computer and speed sensor of the artillery, and real-time programming will be carried out to set the flight and initiation time of the fuze. 40mm artillery shells are prefabricated with 1 100 tungsten alloy balls, and 57mm artillery shells have 2500 tungsten alloy balls, which can form a barrage in front of the target, and three tungsten alloy balls are distributed every 0. 1m2 area to ensure the effective destruction of the target.
Excalibur GPS guided projectile is a kind of precision attack ammunition, which was developed by Bofors. It relies on GPS guidance and the control of the rudder surface of the projectile head to control the trajectory of the projectile. The range is more than 50 kilometers, and the accuracy is not affected by the range. If the target position changes during the flight, it can also correct the trajectory of the projectile through the data link. This bomb has a single warhead for the navy, an armor-piercing warhead for attacking hard targets and a bonus terminal sensitive bomb for attacking ground personnel.
BONUS terminal-sensitive projectile is a kind of intelligent submunition jointly developed by Bofors and French Ground Weapon Industry Group (GAIT), which is specially used to deal with armored vehicles. Each 155 mm cartridge case can hold two pieces. At a height of 0/75 meters from the ground/kloc-,BONUS began to search an area of about 30,000 square meters (about the size of three football fields) with a spiral infrared sensor, and immediately attacked its weakest top after finding armored targets. After the test of 1999 was completed, BONUS was equipped with French and Swedish troops.
guided-missile system
KEPD-350 "Taurus" is an out-of-zone launch weapon jointly developed by Bofors and EADS. It is made of DWS gliding guided bomb developed by German Aerospace Corporation, jet engine and guidance device. The total length is 5. 1m, the launch weight is 1400kg, 1 turbofan engine, the flight Mach number is 0.8, the range is over 400km, the radar stealth design, and the flying end infrared guidance is 1999.
In addition, Bofors also owns a series of tactical missile products. RBS-53 Bantam is the first generation of small wire-guided anti-tank missiles, which are used in infantry, light aircraft and helicopters. It weighs 8kg, the hollow charge warhead weighs 1.8kg, and the armor-piercing thickness is 500 mm. The RBS-56 "Bill" which replaces RBS-53 is the latest model. Guided by wired command, the weight is 16 kg, and the hollow charge warhead inclines 30 in the projectile, so that the jet penetrates the top of the tank downward. RBS- 15 anti-ship missile can be used in all weather, with a length of 4.35 meters, a weight of 770 kg, a cruising speed of Mach 0.9, a range exceeding 150 km, and a semi-penetrating warhead weighing 250 kg. RBS-90 portable short-range air defense missile system has a length of 1.32m and a maximum effective range of about 6500m. It is guided by laser beam, and the fire control system is equipped with PS90 three-coordinate pulse Doppler radar, infrared imager and TV camera.
torpedo
The former Bofors Underwater Power Company is in the leading position in the field of underwater propulsion system, which has attracted the attention of the US Navy. The 400 mm TP45, which was successfully developed by the company in the mid-1980s, is the only light electric torpedo in the world with wire guidance and acoustic homing, and its performance in shallow water and inshore is optimized. It can be launched from submarines, coastal defense facilities and helicopters, with a speed of 23-30 knots, a range of 12 km and a diving depth of 350 meters. On the basis of TP45, starting from 1996, Bofors and Danish Navy jointly improved TP46. It adopts pump jet propulsion and two-way optical fiber link communication, which further improves its combat capability in shallow water and open water. The export type is called "killer whale", weighing 300 kilograms, with a speed of 5-45 knots, a maximum speed range of 1 1 km, and a combat depth of 6-600 meters. 1996 The 533mm TP2000 heavy torpedo in service adopts active/passive acoustic homing and optical fiber line guidance, which can adapt to various navigation depths, especially in the harsh underwater acoustic environment of shallow sea and Baltic Sea, with a speed of 25 knots and a range of 45km. Its thermal propulsion system adopts binary propellant composed of high concentration hydrogen peroxide and diesel oil, and its cost is only 1/3 of that of MK48 torpedo currently in service in the United States. No wonder this torpedo power technology was specially introduced by Ariant Technology Systems Company of the United States in 1994.
Bofors Defense Company, with only 550 employees, focuses on the field of smart ammunition, advocates the slogan "Smart ammunition builds precise defense" and has become a global leader in this field. This idea of using smart weapons to reduce the consumption of individual ammunition coincides with the US Department of Defense. Coupled with its advantages in turret sensors and fire control systems, Bofors Defense Company has gained numerous opportunities for international cooperation, thus taking the lead in the vast international market.