Large-caliber ground artillery
Artillery is Bofors' specialty, and the 155mm FH77 howitzer is its trump card. This kind of artillery, which was developed in the early 197s, is still one of the most automated towed artillery systems in the world. It uses hydraulic devices to aim at the height and direction, and is equipped with an 8 kW four-cylinder water-cooled auxiliary propulsion engine, which can shift positions at a speed of 8 km/h, with a total combat weight of 11.7 tons and a maximum range of 21.7 km. It was delivered to the Swedish Army in 1978.
FH77B improved by FH77 is an export type, and has been sold to Nigeria, India and other countries. Although its firing rate is slightly reduced, it can fire all NATO 155 mm ammunition. It is installed on the chassis of 6×6 all-terrain vehicle, becoming a self-propelled howitzer with reasonable cost, which can change from marching state to fighting state within 5 seconds, and the gunner also has the protection of armored car. Bofors is also developing a 155mm self-propelled howitzer system (SPA) with a firing rate of 16-2 rounds per minute, using NATO-standard ammunition with an initial velocity of 45-1,m/s, with a range of 5km when firing standard ammunition and 1km when 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.
medium and small caliber guns
The 4mm L/6 antiaircraft gun successfully developed in p>1936 is the most famous product of Bofors. The gun barrel is water-cooled and the firing rate is 16 rounds per minute. In 1948, the improved L/7 had a firing rate of 33 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-mounted, double-mounted and quadrupled-mounted, which can be installed on any kind of ship, and also derived from the army type and air force type. The AC-13 "air gunboat" of the US Air Force is still equipped.
TRIAD anti-aircraft turret is a vehicle-mounted short-range anti-aircraft weapon developed by Bofors Company for front-line field troops. It uses a L/7B 4mm gun to launch 4mm 3P ammunition (that is, prefabricated fragment, programmable and equipped with proximity fuze) specially developed by Bofors for intercepting helicopters and other low-altitude targets. The warhead is filled with 1, tungsten alloy prefabricated spheres, 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 4 mm tail stabilized shell-piercing projectile.
Bofors has also developed TRIDON high-mobility short-range field air defense system. A Volvo 825C 6×6 all-terrain truck is equipped with a Bofors 4mm rapid-fire anti-aircraft gun and fire control system. It only takes 6 seconds to change the marching state to the fighting state, and a 4mm 3P full-target bomb is fired. It has been equipped with Swedish naval shore defense artillery.
CV9 is the most advanced tracked armored vehicle family in Sweden. Bofors is responsible for its turret and weapon system. This 7B 4 mm gun was developed from a 4 mm towed antiaircraft gun, which is the largest caliber gun in the western active infantry fighting vehicles. The gun weighs 615 grams, and can be equipped with armor-piercing projectile with stable tail, prefabricated fragment Grenade, tracer multi-purpose projectile and tracer training projectile. The ammunition supply mode is changed from the top of four magazines to the magazine. Its muzzle velocity is 125m/s, which can deal with armored and non-armored targets as well as airplanes and helicopters. The armor-piercing projectile with stable tail shell adopts tungsten alloy core, with the aspect ratio greater than 15, muzzle initial velocity of 1,6 m/s, and vertical armor-piercing thickness of 11 mm at the distance of 1,5-2, m. Although it can't deal with the main battle tank head-on, it is more than enough to attack light tanks and infantry fighting vehicles from the back and side.
57mm MK3 is a digital remote control naval gun, which uses a stealth turret weighing 13 tons and can be installed on ships with a displacement of more than 15 tons (such as F-2 frigate newly equipped in Malaysia). MK3 can fire 57mm 3P bombs, and the automatic loading system has 12 bombs, with a maximum firing rate of 22 rounds per minute and a range of 17km. The velocity radar can accurately measure the velocity of the shell, and the explosion mode is set by the computer.
The newly improved 4mm MK3 automatic naval gun system can be used as both an air defense gun for large ships and a main gun for small ships. It uses 4 mm 3P bullets, with a muzzle velocity of 1,1 m/s, a firing rate of 33 rounds/min and a maximum range of 12,5 m.. The turret is made of aluminum alloy to reduce electromagnetic characteristics, and can also be manually operated.
Ammunition
3P ammunition is an original creation of Bofors, with 4 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 artillery without programming device, delay mode for dealing with ground targets, trigger proximity bombing mode for dealing with trucks and small 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 gun, and real-time programming will be carried out to set the flight and detonation time of the fuze. There are 11 tungsten alloy balls prefabricated in 4 mm artillery shells and 25 in 57 mm artillery shells, which can form a barrage in front of the target, and three tungsten alloy balls are distributed in every .1 square meter area to ensure the effective destruction of the target.
Excalibur GPS guided projectile is a precision attack ammunition being 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 over 5 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. The 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 ammunition is a smart submunition jointly developed by Bofors and French ground weapon industry group (GAIT), which is specially used to deal with armored vehicles, and each 155mm shell can hold 2 pieces. At a height of 175 meters from the ground, BONUS began to search for an area of about 3, square meters (about the size of three football fields) with an infrared sensor in a spiral shape, and immediately attacked its weakest top after finding the armored target. After completing the experiment in 1999, BONUS has been equipped with French and Swedish troops.
missile system
KEPD-35 Taurus is an out-of-zone launch weapon jointly developed by Bofors and EADS. It is made by adding a jet engine and guidance device to the DWS gliding guided bomb developed by German Aerospace Company. It has a total length of 5.1 meters and a launch weight of 1,4 kilograms. It is equipped with a P83 turbofan engine with a flight Mach number of .8 and a range of more than 4 kilometers. Its shape is designed by radar stealth and its flight terminal is guided by infrared. In 1999, its first launch test was carried out at the test site in Westdale, and it was ordered by the German Air Force in 22. Potential users include Italy.
in addition, Bofors also has a series of tactical missile products. RBS-53 Bantam is the first generation of small wire-guided anti-tank missile for infantry, light aircraft and helicopters, weighing 8 kg, hollow charge warhead weighing 1.8 kg and armor-piercing thickness of 5 mm; The RBS-56 "Bill", which replaces RBS-53, is the latest model. It is guided by wired instructions, weighs 16 kilograms, and the hollow charge warhead is tilted 3 in the body of the projectile to make the jet penetrate down the top of the tank. RBS-15 anti-ship missile can be used in all weather, with a length of 4.35 meters, a weight of 77 kilograms, a cruising speed of Mach .9, a range of over 15 kilometers, and a semi-penetrating A warhead weighing 25 kilograms. RBS-9 portable short-range air defense missile system has a length of 1.32 meters and a maximum effective range of about 6,5 meters. It is guided by laser beam, and the fire control system is equipped with PS9 three-coordinate pulse Doppler radar, infrared imager and TV camera.
Torpedo
The former underwater power branch of Bofors Company is in the leading position in the field of underwater propulsion system, which has attracted the attention of the US Navy. The 4 mm TP45 successfully developed by the company in the mid-198s is the only light electric torpedo in the world that uses wire guidance and acoustic homing, and its performance in shallow water and inshore is optimized. It can be launched from submarines, shore defense facilities and helicopters, with a speed of 23-3 knots, a range of 12 kilometers and a depth of 35 meters. On the basis of TP45, Bofors and Danish Navy jointly improved TP46 in 1996. 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 3 kilograms, with a speed of 5-45 knots, a maximum speed of 11 kilometers and a combat depth of 6-6 meters. The 533mm TP2 heavy torpedo which was commissioned in 1996 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 thermodynamic propulsion system uses binary propellant composed of high concentration hydrogen peroxide and diesel, and its cost is only 1/3 of that of MK48 torpedo currently in service in the United States. No wonder in 1994, Ariant Technology Systems Company of the United States specially introduced this torpedo power technology.
Bofors Defense Company, with only 55 employees, focuses on the field of smart ammunition and 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.