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 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-aircraf ...

, 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 Germ ...

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 controll ...

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 A flare gun, also known as a Very pistol or signal pistol, is a large-bore handgun that discharges flares, blanks and smoke. The flare gun is typically used to produce a distress signal. Types The most common type of flare gun is a Very (s ...

. 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 Tank ...

AM chassis. Operated by Finland, retired in 2010. *Leopard 2 Marksman: a Marksman turret on a Leopard 2 A4 chassis. Finnish conversion from the earlier ItPsv 90 chassis. In 1994, Marconi and South African

Denel Denel SOC Ltd is a South African state-owned aerospace and military technology conglomerate established in 1992. It was created when the manufacturing subsidiaries of Armscor were split off in order for Armscor to become the procurement agency ...

group announced plans to install a Marksman turret on a

G6 howitzer The G6, sometimes denoted as the G6 ''Rhino'', is a South African mine-protected self-propelled howitzer. It was developed as a turreted, self-propelled variant of the G5 howitzer series, mating the gun to a six-wheeled armoured chassis. Des ...

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 Tanks ...

, Type 59, Centurion,

M48 Patton The M48 Patton is an American 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 M26 Pershing, M4 Sherman, M46 and M47 Patton tanks, and w ...

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 i ...

,Jane's Armour and Artillery 2003–2004

Chieftain A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categorized a ...

, Challenger 1 and

Leopard 1 The Leopard 1 (also styled Leopard I, before the Leopard 2 simply known as Leopard) is a main battle tank designed and produced by Porsche in West Germany that first entered service in 1965. Developed in an era when HEAT warheads were thought t ...

tanks. None of these variants were picked up for deployment.

Comparable systems

Tunguska-M1 The 2K22 Tunguska (russian: 2К22 "Тунгуска") is a Soviet and now Russian tracked self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon armed with a surface-to-air gun and missile system. It is designed to provide day and night protection for infantry and ...

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 The Type 95 (PLA military designation: PGZ95 – ; pinyin: ''95 shi zixing gaoshepao'', "Type 95 self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery") is a Chinese self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicle. It is armed with four 25 mm caliber cannons and optionall ...

Type 87 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun The is a Japanese air defense weapon built around the Oerlikon 35 mm twin cannon system as used on the Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. The system uses a modified Type 74 tank chassis. It is also nicknamed by field officers as "Guntank ...

PZA Loara The PZA Loara ( Polish: ''Przeciwlotniczy Zestaw Artyleryjski'' or "anti-aircraft artillery system") is a Polish armored radar-directed self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system. The original PZA Loara prototype was based on the chassis of the T-72 ...

M247 Sergeant York The M247 Sergeant York DIVAD (Division Air Defense) was a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG), developed by Ford Aerospace in the late 1970s. Based on the M48 Patton tank, it replaced the Patton's turret with a new one that featured twin r ...

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, a ...

ZSU-57-2 The ZSU-57-2 Ob'yekt 500 is a Soviet self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG), armed with two 57 mm autocannons. 'ZSU' stands for '' Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka'' (russian: link=no, Зенитная Самоходная Установк ...

* 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