Marksman is a British short range air defense system developed by Marconi, consisting of a turret, a Marconi Series 400 radar and two Swiss Oerlikon 35 mm

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

autocannons. It is similar to the German Gepard system in terms of engine performance, ammunition carried and effective range of the ammunition. The turret can be adapted to many basic tank chassis to create a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. The only known major operator of the system to date is the

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-aircra ...

, which ordered 7 units in 1990. The turrets were fitted on Polish T-55AM tank chassis. The system is known as the ItPsv 90 in Finnish service (''Ilmatorjuntapanssarivaunu'' 90, Anti-Aircraft tank 90, the number being the year the tank entered service). It is considered a very accurate anti-aircraft artillery system, having a documented hit percentage of 52.44%. In 2010, the Marksman systems in service in Finland were moved to war-time storage. In 2015 work began to install the system on the

Leopard 2A4 The Leopard 2 is a 3rd generation main battle tank originally developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West Ger ...

chassis in order to make up for the loss of mobile anti-aircraft coverage when the Marksman was originally retired.Armeija ottaa vanhojen Marksman-vaunujen tykkitornit uuteen käyttöön
Helsingin Sanomat, 25 March 2015. The new Leopard 2 Marksman was scheduled to enter service in 2016.

Service

Finland has seven ItPsv 90 Marksman anti-aircraft systems, providing low-level air-defense for tank battalions. The SPAAGs are organically tied to the headquarters company and form teams of two. The vehicles have an all-day capacity, and there is also a back-up crew to ensure combat survivability. The ItPsv 90 Marksman is primarily meant to fight helicopters, low-flying aircraft and

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...

s (UAVs). It is also possible to engage surface and armored targets. The chassis of the ItPsv 90 Marksman is a Polish T-55AM tank, which has been modified to fit the turret. The AM version was chosen due to the increased weight of the system (a T-55AM weighs 36 tons, while a T-55AM Marksman weighs 41 tons) and the AM has more power (620 hp) than a regular T-55. The weapon system is guided by a British Marconi 400 series frequency agile surveillance and tracking X/J-band radar, which is able to detect targets out to 12 km in search mode and 10 km in tracking mode. The laser distance measure device functions up to 8 km. The commander and the gun operator both have gyro-stabilized optical aiming devices. The armament consists of two Swiss 35 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns, with a rate of fire of 18 rounds per second. The fragmentation round has a muzzle velocity of 1,175 m/s. The effective range is 4,000 meters. The vehicle is also equipped with eight Wegmann 76 mm smoke dischargers, a 7.62 mm assault rifle, and a flare gun. The turret can traverse a full 360 degrees and has an elevation range of −10 to +85 degrees. The magazines hold 460 fragmentation rounds and 40 anti-tank rounds. The new Leopard 2 chassis greatly improves mobility compared to the older T-55AM chassis, both on- and off-road. The Leopard 2 chassis is also larger, thus providing a more stable firing platform for the Marksman turret to operate from. There are three communication radios in the vehicle for fire guidance and communications. The vehicle is operated by three crew members: commander, gunner, and driver.

Versions

* ItPsv 90: a Marksman turret on a

T-55 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet main battle tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle T ...

AM chassis. Operated by Finland, retired in 2010. *Leopard 2 Marksman: a Marksman turret on a

Leopard 2 The Leopard 2 is a 3rd generation main battle tank originally developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West G ...

A4 chassis. Finnish conversion from the earlier ItPsv 90 chassis. In 1994, Marconi and South African Denel group announced plans to install a Marksman turret on a G6 howitzer chassis; Marconi also offered conversions for existing users of

T-54/55 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet main battle tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tan ...

, Type 59,

Centurion A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 le ...

M48 Patton The M48 Patton is an American List of main battle tanks by generation#First generation, first-generation main battle tank (MBT) introduced in February 1952, being designated as the 90mm Gun Tank: M48. It was designed as a replacement for the M2 ...

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in ...

,Jane's Armour and Artillery 2003–2004 Chieftain, Challenger 1 and Leopard 1 tanks. None of these variants were picked up for deployment.

Comparable systems

* Tunguska-M1 *

ZSU-23-4 Shilka The ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" is a lightly armored Soviet self-propelled, radar-guided anti-aircraft weapon system ( SPAAG). Etymology The acronym "ZSU" stands for ''Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka'' (russian: Зенитная Самоходная Ус ...

* Type 95 SPAAA * Type 87 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun * PZA Loara * M247 Sergeant York *

Flakpanzer Gepard The ''Flugabwehrkanonenpanzer Gepard'' ("anti-aircraft-gun tank 'Cheetah, better known as the Flakpanzer Gepard) is an all-weather-capable German self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG). It was developed in the 1960s, fielded in the 1970s, an ...

* ZSU-57-2 * LAV-AD * Luftvärnskanonvagn (lvkv) 9040

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapons Vickers 35 mm artillery Anti-aircraft guns of the United Kingdom