Italian Navy

SUPER DEADLY Italian Navy 76 mm Multi Purpose Naval Gun

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• published: 26 Aug 2015
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The Italian Navy unvield a new 76 mm Multi purpose Naval Gun to boost Italian Military Power. The OTO Melara 76 mm gun is a naval artillery piece built and designed by the Italian defence company Oto Melara. It is based on the Oto Melara 76/62C and evolved toward 76/62 SR and 76/62 Strales. The Oto Melara 76 mm Compatto cannon system is compact enough to be installed on relatively small warships, like corvettes, avisos (a vessel somewhere between a corvette and a patrol boat), or patrol boats. The gun's high rate of fire and availability of specialized ammunition make it well-suited to varied roles such as short-range anti-missile point defense, anti-aircraft, anti-surface, and ground support. Specialized ammunition includes armor piercing, incendiary, directed fragmentation effects, and a guided round marketed as capable of destroying maneuvering anti-ship missiles. A stealth cupola is now offered. The OTO Melara 76 mm has been widely exported, currently in use internationally by 60 navies. It has recently been favored over the French 100mm naval gun for the joint French/Italian Horizon-class frigate project and FREMM frigate. On 27 September 2006 Iran announced it has started mass production of a marine artillery gun, named the Fajr-27, which is a reverse-engineered Oto Melara 76 mm gun.[1] Other specifications[edit] Cooling: sea water—fresh water for flushing Electrical Power supply 440 V, 3-phase, 60 Hz, main circuit; 115 V, 1-phase, 400 Hz, servo and synchro network Variants[edit] Super Rapid[edit] Developed in the early 1980s (and sometimes called the "Super Rapido"), this variant is the up-to-date development of rapid fire Italian 76 mm naval cannons, capable of firing an increased 120 rounds per minute. The Super Rapid's higher rate of fire was achieved by designing a faster feed system. Strales system[edit] These new improvements led to the Italian Navy preferring the Super Rapido with Strales System and DART ammunition to the Fast Forty 40 mm CIWS, in the anti-missile defense role, being capable of countering several subsonic missiles from 6,000 to 1,000 meters away. DART 76m had a longer range than other CIWS, but the Italian navy wanted an even longer range weapon. The Durand de la Penne class was initially planned to carry four 40 mm Fast Forty dual turrets, but they were replaced by three 76 mm Super Rapido turrets. The longer range means one single gun can engage more than one missile in a single engagement, and minimizes the danger posed by fragments and splinters if a missile is destroyed close to the ship. The 76 mm was also capable of being used versus surface targets, being a medium caliber gun with relatively long range.[2] Ammunition[edit] To provide multiple roles for the gun, OTO provides the user with wide ranges of specialized ammunition:[3] HE standard (all models): weight 6.296 kg, range 16 km, effective 8 km (4 km vs. air targets at 85°) MOM: developed by OTO (Multirole OTO Munition) PFF: anti-missile projectile, with proximity fuse and tungsten cubes SAPOM: 6.35 kg (0.46 kg HE), range 16 km (SAPOMER: 20 km) semi-armored piercing DART: guided shells for anti-aircraft maneuvering targets Vulcano: 5 kg, maximum range around 40 km (it is a smaller version of the 127 mm Vulcano)[4] Fire control system[edit] There were evolutions in the gun's fire control systems as well. The early versions (Compatto) utilized radars such the RTN-10X Orion (made by Selenia, now Selex); From the early 1980s there was a more powerful and flexible system, the RTN-30X (used with the Dardo-E CIWS system and known within Italian Navy as SPG-73), that was capable to manage both guns (40,76 and 127 mm calibres) and missiles (Sea Sparrow-Aspide). This system came in service with the Italian Navy, on the cruiser Garibaldi (C551: the RTN-30X entered in service first with Maestrale-class frigates, but the Dardo 40 mm turret were slaved to the smaller and older RTN-20X radars), but still with the twin 40 mm Dardo's turrets; while the first ship equipped with Dardo E and 76 mm Super Rapido was the upgraded Audace-class destroyers, later followed by the Durand de la Penne class. The 76/62 has also been used with countless other fire control systems, when not being used in the Italian fleet. Fuses[edit] There have been many developments in the fuses, essential to shoot down low-flying missiles. The best fuse developed for the 76/62 guns is arguably the 3A-Plus programmable multi-role fuse, manufactured by Oto Melara and Simmel Difesa, introduced in the early 2000s. This fuse requires the installation of a fuse programmer in the mount. The programmable multi-role fuse offers the user different modes for excellent flexibility, including a time mode for air burst; proximity mode: including Gated Proximity, Anti-Missile Proximity, Conventional Air Defense Proximity and Anti-Surface Proximity Modes; and several different impact modes: including Delayed Impact.