XM150E5 (tankový kanon)

A sketch of the kanóna XM150E5 with the designation of hlavných parts.

Source:
R. P. Hunnicutt: Abrams - a History of the American Main Battle Tank, Volume 2, Presidio Press Publisher Books, Novato 1990, ISBN 089141388X
http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ruwiki/451529

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It was to form the main armament of the joint project of Germany and the USA on Kampfpanzer 70 (KPz 70) (Main Battle Tank 70, MBT-70).


[img] https://galerie.valka.cz/data/843/medium/IMG_7927.jpg[/img ]

The 152mm gun/thrower with the XM150E5 rifled barrel bore. It was essentially an extended version of the M81 low-pressure 152mm gun that armed the M551 Sheridan and M60A2 Starship tanks. The gun could fire both conventional 152mm ammunition with a burnable cartridge (with a max range of up to 1000m) and the MGM-51 Shillelagh anti-tank guided missile (with a max range of up to 3000m). The weapon was loaded automatically, by means of a loading machine located in the rear of the turret. Automatic reloading allowed the tank to reach a maximum rate of fire of 6 to 10 rounds per minute. A new APFSDS-T ammunition, XM578, was also developed specifically for the gun, with a muzzle velocity of 1,478m/s, with a maximum penetration of 250mm RHA at 2,000m. A conventional 152mm cumulative shell pierced 360mm RHA. (The maximum armour thickness of the Soviet T-62 tank in use at the time was 214(242)mm).


The gun/thrower was electro-hydraulically stabilized in both aim and recoil allowing it to fire while moving. The barrel was rifled and fitted with an exhaust ejector, but was not encased in a thermal insulation jacket. The gun was fitted with a CBSS (Closed Breech Scavenger System) in later prototypes to replace the exhaust ejector. The CBSS was used to remove the so-called. "The CBSS used compressed air to remove the exhaust gases from the barrel. This solution reduced the weight of the barrel, but was not as reliable. The CBSS was notorious for leaving glowing, unburned bits of powder charge in the barrel. The bolt closure mechanism of the cannon was electrically powered, and could be operated manually by a crank in an emergency.


The gun could fire 5 basic types of conventional 152mm ammunition such as:


XM 409E5 with a cumulative warhead (HEAT) with a 360mm RHA penetration and a max range of 800m.
XM 625E2 with fragmenting warhead (HE).
XM 657E2 with shatterproof warhead with tracer (HE-T).
XM 625 Bee-hive anti-personnel (APERS), the warhead contained 10,000 darts with an effective range of 400m.
XM 578 APFSDS/T used against tanks with 250mm RHA penetration at 2000m.
XM 410 Smoke with white phosphorus fill.


The MGM-51 Shillelagh cannon fired ptrs served against tanks out to 3000m. In the 1960s the effective range of the 105mm L7 (M68) gun, with which the absolute majority of NATO tanks were armed, was estimated at 1800. The Shillelagh therefore gave the MBT-70 tank a significant advantage because it provided the ability to successfully destroy enemy tanks at almost twice the range. The missile was guided semi-automatically (SACLOS) by an infrared beam. The gunner merely maintained a deliberate crosshair on the target and the computer automatically made corrections and sent commands to the missile. The infrared irradiator was located on the left side of the turret.(Shillelagh was the inspiration for Russian 100mm and 125mm ptrs like the 9M117 Bastion and 9M119 Reflex). The missile carried a 7kg cumulative warhead. The minimum range of the missile was around 700m, creating a "dead" zone for the vehicle in which it could only use conventional 152mm ammunition. More on the MGM-51 here: www.facebook.com