Leonardo X-Gun and its ammunition

The X-Gun cannon on a test rig. Photo by Leonardo

The Italian company Leonardo SpA recently developed and brought into serial production the advanced 30mm X-Gun automatic cannon. This weapon can fire the full range of existing 30 x 173mm ammunition, including projectiles for various purposes. Furthermore, work is nearing completion on a new round that will improve the cannon's firepower and enable it to engage more challenging targets.

With enhanced performance

The X-Gun, a promising cannon, was developed in the 2010s and has been undergoing testing for several years. The project's goal was to create a new 30mm cannon with improved technical and combat characteristics. These improvements were intended to be achieved through both new design solutions for the cannon itself and advanced ammunition.

Work on the X-Gun has now been completed, and Leonardo has begun production of these guns and their mounting systems. For example, a production naval system was recently unveiled. artillery The Lionfish 30 mount, which will soon be delivered to the customer, is also available to customers with other installation options for the new weapon.

The X-Gun is a small-caliber gun with an external automatic drive, designed to engage various ground, surface, and air targets at ranges of up to several kilometers. The gun's design incorporates several intriguing technical solutions that improve its key performance characteristics.

The gun has a 30mm rifled barrel, 90 calibers long, with a well-developed muzzle brake. The oblong receiver houses the sliding breechblock, its drive, and the trigger mechanism. An externally mounted device feeds ammunition from two boxes. The overall length of the gun does not exceed 3,6 meters, with a maximum diameter of 431 x 465 mm. The gun body weighs 173 kg.

A cutaway view of the gun. The fuse programmer and muzzle velocity sensor are shown separately. Leonardo graphics

The gun's automatic system is powered by an electric motor. It rotates a special drum with a guide groove, which causes the bolt to reciprocate. In the forwardmost position, the bolt rotates and locks into place on six lugs. Thanks to the electric drive, the rate of fire reaches 200 rounds per minute. The control system allows for single shots, multiple-round bursts, or continuous fire.

The X-Gun cannon mount is equipped with ammunition boxes of the required capacity. It fires 30 x 173 mm rounds. Two ammunition feed systems have been developed: belt and linkless. The system allows for the feeding of two types of projectiles, with quick switching between them.

Together with KNDS Ammo Italy (formerly Nexter Arrowtech), we are developing our own high-explosive fragmentation projectile with a programmable fuse. To use it, the gun will be equipped with additional electronic devices. This ammunition should significantly improve firepower against a range of targets.

Standard shells

The developer states that the X-Gun is compatible with all existing and future 30 x 173 mm rounds. This is one of the primary NATO ammunition types, the requirements for which are specified in the STANAG 4624 standard. These rounds are used by a wide variety of weapons on various platforms.

A wide range of 30mm projectiles for various purposes is currently produced and in service. There are a number of high-explosive fragmentation rounds, various armor-piercing rounds, practice rounds, and more. In recent years, considerable attention has been paid to the development of high-explosive fragmentation rounds with programmable fuses.

Standard 30 x 173 mm shells. Photo by the US War Department.

Using various types and models of rounds, the X-Gun can engage a variety of land, sea, and air targets. Depending on the carrier, it will be able to engage light armored vehicles, boats, or unmanned aerial vehicles.

Programmable fuse

Of particular interest in the new Leonardo cannon's ammunition is the projectile with a programmable fuse, developed by KNDS Ammo Italy. It is positioned as a promising and effective means for combating small aerial targets, such as UAVs or precision-guided missiles. weapons.

This projectile is designated MF-ABM (Multi-Fragmentation Air Burst Munition). Additionally, the designation HE ABM W/Prog. Fuze is used, indicating the main features and purpose of the product.

Development of the projectile has been ongoing for several years and is now complete. Further testing is currently underway and will conclude in November. A new round of testing is planned for next year, which will determine the project's true potential.

The MF-ABM is manufactured to the dimensions defined by the existing standard. Its design differs significantly from conventional high-explosive fragmentation shells, and not only because of its special fuse. It incorporates interesting solutions aimed at increasing its effectiveness against standard targets.

A shot with the MF-ABM / HE ABM W/Prog. Fuze projectile. Photo: European Defence Review

The projectile's warhead has a thin casing containing pre-formed shrapnel pellets. The cylindrical portion of the projectile is shaped like a casing with internal notches that fragment it. The main portion of the internal cavity is filled with explosive, the type and mass of which are not disclosed.

The MF-ABM projectile has a unique fuse with two operating modes. The first is contact detonation, which detonates upon impact with a target or other obstacle. Additionally, there is a detonation mode that detonates at a predetermined distance from the weapon. This mode is intended for use against aerial targets. The precise operation of the fuse in this mode is not disclosed.

To support programmable fuses, the X-Gun is equipped with additional electronic devices. For example, a muzzle velocity sensor is installed on the muzzle brake, and a programmer is housed in the breech. Furthermore, the fire control system is equipped with the necessary algorithms and functions.

Before firing, the fire control system receives information from the velocity sensor and other means. It then determines the target type, performs the necessary calculations, and inputs the detonation range into the fuse. At the specified distance from the gun, the projectile detonates automatically.

A direct hit on a target results in a contact detonation. In this case, the MF-ABM causes damage both through its own kinetic energy and through fragments. If the target is in front of the projectile at the moment of detonation, it is destroyed by the pre-formed elements of its warhead. If the target misses slightly, fragments from the main body of the projectile should hit the target.

Armor-piercing 30mm ammunition from KNDS Ammo Italy. Photo by KNDS

A complex approach

In recent years, Leonardo has placed increased emphasis on the development of the advanced 30mm X-Gun cannon. Major development work on this product has now been completed, and it has entered production for actual customers. Production of these cannons and mounts is expected to increase in the foreseeable future.

It's easy to see that Leonardo and its affiliates were developing not just a gun, but a complex system with multiple components. New combat modules and advanced ammunition were developed in parallel with the X-Gun. This approach should help unlock the gun's technical potential and achieve maximum results.

However, not all components of the new system are currently ready for production and delivery. The MF-ABM projectile with programmable detonation is scheduled to enter series production only by the end of next year. After that, the X-Gun will acquire all the desired capabilities.

Leonardo is optimistic about the future, and with good reason. Even in its current form, with its limited capabilities, the new artillery system is finding customers. The imminent delivery of Lionfish naval mounts to 30 Italian naval forces is already known, and further contracts are expected. It can be assumed that the new projectile will improve the commercial prospects of the weapon and the systems based on it.

Comments

[severok1979]

An expensive, over-complicated, and bulky unit—like many other ship-based components—is essential. But in the era of surface and aerial drones, the navy cannot do without it.

[qQQQ]

Quote: severok1979

An expensive, over-complicated, large-sized unit

By modern standards, it's decent. Most importantly, it has a programmable projectile, which makes this gun far superior to even our 57mm (without a similar round) in terms of anti-aircraft performance.

[lynnot]

The lethality of a 30mm projectile with a proximity detonation is somewhat questionable. Unless it's a scattering of projectiles that inflict damage by kinetic energy in the direction of flight, like shrapnel.

[BlackEyesKA]

...The MF-ABM projectile with programmable detonation is planned to be brought into series production only by by the end of next year.

[rosomaha]

Why don't our own companies develop a new 30mm cannon? Look at Western military-industrial complexes; they're simply churning out ideas... and not just ideas, but working prototypes that demonstrate their necessity... the army just has to choose and test them. But our army doesn't ask, we don't budge. Or maybe they're just being pressured by bureaucracy... everything moves so slowly that by the time it even reaches a pilot batch for field testing, it's already obsolete under modern conditions. A modern light armored vehicle (LT) concept should be ready for series production in a maximum of three years. This requires a variety of research and development projects with pilot prototypes, plus individual components already in production, several of them in the same niche. They simply take existing components and assemble the required system, adding new ones as needed... while maintaining an open system, allowing for rapid modernization and adaptation to rapidly changing battlefield conditions. And inter-service standardization. And we still have a near-monopoly in every niche... if you don't have time or can't, you have to refine it... time is lost. If there were two or three more alternative designs, not just from industry luminaries, but from young and promising ones, they would offer a solution... and the industry giants would take over the refinement and production.

[Dedok]

Posm zapadn The military-industrial complex simply produces a bunch of ideas.What ideas?

So the answer is simple: ideas come from talented people, not helpful/convenient ones...
It is the designers who come up with ideas, not the managers...

And for this there must be variable scientific developments

proactive... but who knows/can guess what will be needed tomorrow? - people who deal with bureaucracy all day long?
So it turns out: "one with a bowl (the designer) - the rest with spoons (the bureaucracy)"

[red-eye]

In general, there is a lot that can be said on this matter, but it would be better to write something like a review of 30mm autocannons with their conceptual and some kind of technical comparison (maybe I will try to scribble something, it will be an interesting experience), but in a nutshell, about why we don’t have this

Airburst/trajectory-bursting ammunition in 30mm caliber appeared relatively recently in the 2000s in the West. The pioneers in this field were: 1) the Americans, trying to improve the combat capabilities of the M262 25mm cannon (in the PPE era, it was decided to increase the fragmentation effect), improved it in two ways: increasing the caliber and proximity detonation, which led to the further development of the Mk44(s). 2) the Swedes, in principle, were doing the same, but with a slightly shifted emphasis on combating aircraft, using the Bofors L/70 40mm.

I know of similar work being done with the 2A72 cannon in Russia, but it was done by a shadowy genius.
A receiver was installed in the base of the projectile, and the projectile itself contained—I could be mistaken, but an electrically charged composition (a capsule with liquid breaks apart when fired and generates electricity for a couple of seconds), and the projectile itself was detonated by a beam... This was a solution for existing guns, in particular the BTR-80A/82A
Maybe I'm missing some other features, but somehow in recent years our military (military and industrial complex + ministry) have been trying to simplify their path by creating a more or less optimal solution for large calibers of 57mm. The problem is that there is no derivation (2S38) the navy has an AK630, and for cheap mobilization solutions with welding/mounting an S60 on an MTLB, etc., this will do, and no one uses it now.
As a result, it seems to me that the time in the early 2010s was wasted, considering the 2000s (the modernization from the 60 was rolled out in 2020, and the 2A42 was only in boomerang). It would have been easier to use ready-made Western solutions (in some places the patents have already rotted, while in others they were still sold to us in a complete package). But that's my opinion.

[cpls22]

Before firing, the fire control system receives information from the velocity sensor and other means. It then determines the target type, performs the necessary calculations, and inputs the detonation range into the fuse. At the specified distance from the gun, the projectile detonates automatically.

Judging by the cross-section of the muzzle device, the "muzzle velocity sensor" doesn't "communicate" anything to the programmer, as it has no connection with it. Most likely, the muzzle device remotely influences the projectile itself, communicating the time it takes it to travel the distance between two marks on it.
The programmer only sets the number of these distances before detonation, based on the rangefinder data.

[NIKN]

In addition, there is a detonation mode that detonates at a set distance from the gun. This is intended for use against air targets. How exactly the fuse works in this mode is not disclosed..

Until recently, the detonation range was calculated and programmed based on the number of revolutions of the projectile, and there was a significant, but acceptable, margin of error. I don’t know what they’ve come up with now (probably have come up with).

[cpls22]

Quote: NIKNN

The detonation range was calculated and programmed based on the number of revolutions of the projectile and there was a decent, but acceptable margin of error. I don’t know what they’ve come up with now (probably).

The error probably arose due to unstable firing conditions (temperature) and the amount of propellant powder. Now, apparently, the distance is measured using a specific time interval for a projectile to travel a known distance (in the muzzle device). current conditions.
Thus, instability of the powder temperature and its quantity does not affect the calculations.

[lynnot]

If the programming system has no effect on the already-fired projectile used to determine velocity, then it cannot be programmed, meaning that at a minimum, the next projectile must be programmed. It follows that the series must be programmed using an algorithm that covers the difference in possible deviations.

[Konnick]

The gun has a 30 mm rifled barrel with a length of 90 calibers and a developed muzzle brake.

With such a barrel length and thickness, whip-like movements of the barrel and rapid overheating are guaranteed.

[red-eye]

With such a barrel length and thickness, whip-like movements of the barrel and rapid overheating are guaranteed.

It seems to me that flutes help here, the absence of gas automation, a lower rate of fire (and potentially lower ammunition consumption to hit the target), or they attach a frame or casing