Modular Naval Artillery Concept (MONARC) was a study of the German defence industry about mounting the turret of the
PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzer on a
naval ship
A naval ship is a military ship (or sometimes boat, depending on classification) used by a navy. Naval ships are differentiated from civilian ships by construction and purpose. Generally, naval ships are Damage control, damage resilient a ...
of
frigate size.
Description
The size required above and below deck and the weight of this turret are not much different from the
OTO Melara 76mm gun system, the standard naval gun of the
German Navy
The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mari ...
. But to deal with the much greater
recoil
Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, as according to Newton's third law the force r ...
of the 155 mm artillery piece on such a vessel, a flexible mount with
damping elements had to be designed.
This mount and a PzH 2000's turret was fitted experimentally in December 2002 on the Type 124
''Sachsen''-class frigate ''Hamburg'' at the shipyards of
HDW in
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...
, when she was still fitting out. In 2004 the
fire-control system was tested with a PzH 2000 strapped onto the helicopter deck of ''Hessen'', another Type 124 frigate. The feasibility of using even the unmodified PzH 2000 with unguided "dumb" rounds to attack naval targets had been proven previously by the
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
Coastal Artillery with tests performed in May 1996.
Rheinmetall, the producer of PzH 2000's gun system, plans to design special
smart
Smart or SMART may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Smart'' (Hey! Say! JUMP album), 2014
* Smart (Hotels.com), former mascot of Hotels.com
* ''Smart'' (Sleeper album), 1995 debut album by Sleeper
* '' SMart'', a children's television se ...
naval rounds that will boost the range of the gun from 30 km with standard NATO ammunition and 40 km with assisted rounds to over , more than that of many
anti-ship missile
An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A goo ...
s.
The future
F125 class frigate was intended to make use of this concept. While the intricate elastic mounting system handled the recoil adequately, adapting all of the PzH-2000's systems for the corrosive naval environment proved more difficult and more costly than expected and MONARC appears to have been removed
[http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNGER_61-52_MONARC.php German 155mm/52 MONARC] from F125 plans. The F125 class will now mount the new developed
Otobreda 127/64
The Oto Melara 127/64 Lightweight (LW) naval gun mount is a rapid-fire gun mount suitable for installation on large and medium size ships. It also has a version for coastal defense, intended for surface fire and naval gunfire support as main ro ...
naval gun, which has a range of more than 120 km when using guided
Vulcano ammunition.
See also
4.5-inch Mark 8 naval gun
The 4.5 inch Mark 8 is a British naval gun system which currently equips the Royal Navy's destroyers and frigates, and some British destroyers and frigates sold to other countries.
Background
Guns with a 4.5 inch calibre have been t ...
- considered for a programme to 'up-gun' to the 155mm gun of the
AS90
The AS-90 ("Artillery System for the 1990s"), known officially as Gun Equipment 155 mm L131, is an armoured self-propelled artillery weapon used by the British Army.
It can fire standard charges up to using 39 calibre long barrel (comp ...
in a similar role
References
External links
German 155mm/52 MONARC@ www.navweaps.com
HDW-Videos@
Howaldtswerke
Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (often abbreviated HDW) is a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Kiel. It is part of the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) group, owned by ThyssenKrupp. The Howaldtswerke shipyard was founded in Kiel in 18 ...
, a video showing parts of the 2002 test can be downloaded here.
MONARC , Mounting a Pzh 2000 turret to a German Frigate@ www.geopolitiki.com
Naval guns of Germany
155 mm artillery
{{Artillery-stub
