The M-68 was a 155 mm L33 caliber towed gun howitzer manufactured by

Soltam Systems Soltam Systems ( he, סולתם מערכות) is an Israeli defense contractor located in Yokneam, Israel. The company has been developing and manufacturing advanced artillery systems, mortars, ammunition and peripheral equipment since 1952. ...

of Israel, and used by the

Israeli Defense Force The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branch ...

Design

The M-68 is based on the Finnish designed

122 K 60 The 130 K 90-60 is a Finnish towed 130 mm coastal artillery piece, manufactured in the 1980s by Vammas. History The development process for the 130 K 90-60 began in 1960 when the Finnish company Tampella presented their concept of a new 122 ...

and 155 K 68 cannon series, first developed in the mid-1960s by the company

Tampella Oy Tampella Ab was a Finnish heavy industry manufacturer, a maker of paper machines, locomotives, military weaponry, as well as wood-based products such as packaging. The company was based mainly in the Naistenlahti district of the city of ...

Oy. Twelve Finnish cannons were built between 1970-1975, with more guns later built of later designs. These Tampella guns formed the basis for Soltam's production of the M-68 and later "Tampella series" guns. Before the 155 K 68 (Tampella), the 155HX prototype was shipped to Soltam for trials. The first prototype was completed in 1968 for trials and evaluations by the

(IDF), who were satisfied with the performance of the howitzer. Subsequently, an order was placed with Soltam and a production line was initiated in 1970. The gun entered IDF service in time to serve IDF artillery corps during the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egy ...

of 1973. In addition to Israel, the M-68 has also been exported to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Description

The barrel of the M-68 was fitted with a simple muzzle brake while the recoil mechanism with its two pneumatic cylinder jacks are positioned on the back-end of the barrel. The gun mount chassis, breech and recoil system were to see further use in the next development of this gun — the

Soltam M-71 The M-71 is a 155 mm 39 caliber towed howitzer manufactured by Israeli company Soltam Systems. Design The weapon was based on the earlier Soltam M-68 and uses the same recoil system, breech and carriage but had a longer gun barrel (39 cali ...

, which has a slightly longer barrel (39 calibers versus 33 calibers of the M-68) and a compressed air-driven rammer to ease loading.

Variants

In the mid 1970s, the

Israeli Defense Forces Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli ...

engineered an improvised

self-propelled gun Self-propelled artillery (also called locomotive artillery) is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move toward its firing position. Within the terminology are the self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer, self-propelled mo ...

known as the ''Ro'em / L-33'' to complement the towed M-68. It mated an M-68 to a large, enclosed, turret atop the chassis and drive train of an

M4 Sherman } The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the Military history of the United States during World War II, United States and Allies of World War II, Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman prove ...

tank.

Operators

*: 36 howitzers acquired by the

Chilean Army The Chilean Army ( es, Ejército de Chile) is the land arm of the Military of Chile. This 80,000-person army (9,200 of which are conscripts) is organized into six divisions, a special operations brigade and an air brigade. In recent years, and a ...

in the late 1970s. Later upgraded to

standard. * *: 48 *: 44

References

{{Reflist

External links