![BONUS 155 mm](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/BONUS_155_mm.jpg)
155 BONUS (''BOfors NUtating Shell)'' is a
155 mm
155 mm (6.1 in) is a common, NATO-standard, artillery caliber. It is defined in AOP-29 part 1 with reference to STANAG 4425. It is commonly used in field guns, howitzers, and gun-howitzers.
Land warfare
The caliber originated in France after ...
artillery cluster round, developed in cooperation between
Bofors
AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms concern BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years.
History
Located in ...
of Sweden and
Nexter
Nexter Systems (formerly known as GIAT Industries or ''Groupement des Industries de l'Armée de Terre'', Army Industries Group) is a French government-owned weapons manufacturer, based in Roanne, Loire.
Group organization
The Nexter group is ...
of France, designed for a long range,
indirect fire
Indirect fire is aiming and firing a projectile without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire. Aiming is performed by calculating azimuth and inclination, and may include correcting aim by ...
top attack
Plunging fire is a form of indirect fire, where gunfire is fired at a trajectory to make it fall on its target from above. It is normal at the high trajectories used to attain long range, and can be used deliberately to attack a target not suscep ...
role against armoured vehicles. Development on BONUS began in early 1985 as a study project for the
Swedish Defence Material Administration
The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration ( sv, Försvarets materielverk, FMV) is a Swedish government agency that reports to the Ministry of Defence. The agency is responsible for the supply of materiel to the Swedish defence organisation. It ...
, with an initial expectation of development completion by 1989 and production start by 1990. By 1990, the development completion date had slipped to 1992. The BONUS
base bleed
Base bleed is a system used on some artillery shells to increase range, typically by about 20–35%. It expels gas into the low pressure area behind the shell to reduce base drag (it does not produce thrust).
Since base bleed extends the ran ...
carrier shell
Xenophoridae, commonly called carrier shells, is a family of medium-sized to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Littorinimorpha.
According to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi (2005) the family Xenoph ...
contains two
submunition
A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehicl ...
s, which descend over the battlefield on
winglet
Wingtip devices are intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft by reducing drag. Although there are several types of wing tip devices which function in different manners, their intended effect is always to reduce an aircraft' ...
s and attack hardened targets with
explosively formed penetrator
An explosively formed penetrator (EFP), also known as an explosively formed projectile (EFP), a self-forging warhead, or a self-forging fragment, is the product of a shaped charge designed to penetrate armor effectively. As the name suggests, the ...
warheads.
Design
center, Schematic of the 155 BONUS round
155 BONUS is a 155 mm NATO artillery round that consists of a heavy artillery projectile containing two autonomous, sensor-fused,
fire-and-forget
Fire-and-forget is a type of missile guidance which does not require further external intervention after launch such as illumination of the target or wire guidance, and can hit its target without the launcher being in line-of-sight of the targe ...
submunitions.
After the submunition is released it opens two winglets. While descending, the submunition rotates, scanning the area below with multi-frequency
infrared sensor
Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...
s and
LiDAR
Lidar (, also LIDAR, or LiDAR; sometimes LADAR) is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It can also be ...
that compares the detected vehicles with a programmable target database. The submunitions each contain a high-penetration
EFP warhead for use against even heavy
armoured fighting vehicle
An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Examples of AFVs are tanks, armoured car ...
s like
main battle tank
A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...
s.
When fired from a 52-caliber barrel, a BONUS shell can travel up to .
Operation
700px, center
Competing systems
BONUS is very similar to the German
SMArt 155
SMArt 155 is a German 155 mm artillery round, designed for a long range, indirect fire top attack role against armoured vehicles. The SMArt carrier shell contains two submunitions with infrared sensor and millimeter wave radar, which descen ...
system; SMArt 155 descends on a parachute rather than a system of winglets, and uses a millimeter radar as altimer instead of LIDAR.
The United States developed the similar
M898 SADARM system (which also descended on a
ballute
The ballute (a portmanteau of ''balloon'' and ''parachute'') is a parachute-like braking device optimized for use at high altitudes and supersonic velocities.
The original ballute configuration was invented in 1948 by the Goodyear company. The ...
to attack the top surfaces of armoured vehicles), but this was discontinued in favour of the
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
guided
M982 Excalibur
The M982 Excalibur (previously XM982) is a 155 mm extended-range guided artillery shell developed in a collaborative effort between the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering ...
round.
US artillery largely deploys the
M712 Copperhead
The M712 Copperhead is a 155 mm caliber cannon-launched guided projectile. It is
a fin-stabilized, terminally laser guided, explosive shell intended to engage hard point targets such as tanks, self-propelled howitzers or other high-value targe ...
laser-guided round for the anti-tank role.
Operators
*
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...
- since 2000
*
Swedish Army
The Swedish Army ( sv, svenska armén) is the land force of the Swedish Armed Forces.
History
Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1521, when the men of Dalarna chose 16 young able men as body guards for the insurgent nobleman Gustav Vas ...
- since 2000
*
Finnish Army
The Finnish Army (Finnish: ''Maavoimat'', Swedish: ''Armén'') is the land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: the infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraft ...
- since 2014
*
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
- being procured
*
Norwegian Army
The Norwegian Army ( no, Hæren) is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway ...
*
Ukrainian Ground Forces
The Ukrainian Ground Forces ( uk, Сухопу́тні військá Збрóйних сил Украї́ни), also known as the Ukrainian Army, are the Army, land forces of Ukraine and one of the five Military branch, branches of the Armed For ...
- since 2022
Operational history
It has been sent to Ukraine in aid packages by France and potentially Sweden and Norway.
Although rumours mentioned a kill on a Russian
Pantsir-S1
The Pantsir (russian: Панцирь, translation="Carapace") missile system is a family of self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery systems. Starting with the Pantsir-S1 (russian: Панцирь-С1, NATO r ...
system on July 5th 2022, it turned out that it was the
SMArt 155
SMArt 155 is a German 155 mm artillery round, designed for a long range, indirect fire top attack role against armoured vehicles. The SMArt carrier shell contains two submunitions with infrared sensor and millimeter wave radar, which descen ...
that hit it.
See also
*
Krasnopol
*
M712 Copperhead
The M712 Copperhead is a 155 mm caliber cannon-launched guided projectile. It is
a fin-stabilized, terminally laser guided, explosive shell intended to engage hard point targets such as tanks, self-propelled howitzers or other high-value targe ...
*
M982 Excalibur
The M982 Excalibur (previously XM982) is a 155 mm extended-range guided artillery shell developed in a collaborative effort between the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering ...
*
Strix mortar round Pansarsprängvinggranat m/94 ''STRIX'' is a Swedish endphase-guided projectile fired from a 120 mm mortar currently manufactured by Saab Bofors Dynamics.
STRIX is fired like a conventional mortar round. The round contains an infrared imaging ...
*
XM395 Precision Guided Mortar Munition
The XM395 Precision Guided Mortar Munition (PGMM) is a 120 mm guided mortar round developed by Alliant Techsystems.
Design
Based on Orbital ATK's Precision Guidance Kit for 155 mm artillery projectiles, XM395 combines GPS guidance and di ...
References
External links
Bofors 155 BONUS - VideoBAE systems
{{DEFAULTSORT:155 BONUS
155mm artillery shells
Anti-tank rounds
Bofors
Cluster munition
Fire-and-forget weapons
Military equipment of NATO