A Denel G6 155 mm self-propelled gun/howitzer fires an RDM shell using RDM propellant
Photo by: Rheinmetall Denel Munitions
German defence group Rheinmetall announced on April 7 that its South African subsidiary company, Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM), had won an export order worth more than €70-million (or more than $80-million). The client was identified only as an “international customer”.
The order is for Tactical Modular Charges, numbering in the several hundred thousands. Delivery will be made next year.
These Tactical Modular Charges propel 155 mm artillery shells. They are ‘fine-tuned’ to the client’s artillery systems and shells, so as to achieve maximum effectiveness. And their modular design makes logistics simpler and handling procedures in self-propelled gun/howitzers easier.
“Other positive characteristics of this advanced Rheinmetall Denel Munition product include reduced barrel wear (RDM’s Barrel Wear Reducer/BWR) and lower muzzle flash (RDM’s Muzzle Flash Reducer/MFR),” stated the group’s press release. The BWR extends the life of the gun/howitzer’s barrel, while the MFR makes it more difficult for an enemy to detect the weapon when it fires.
“Rheinmetall possesses comprehensive expertise in the world of advanced indirect fire systems,” it affirms. This is the case with systems that are compliant with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) Joint Ballistics Memorandum of Understanding and with systems that meet non-Nato criteria.
The quality of Rheinmetall/RDM technology was demonstrated at the end of last year, at South Africa’s Alkantpan proving ground, with a Denel G6 155 mm self-propelled gun, equipped with a 52-calibre barrel (that is, a barrel whose length is 52 times its calibre, or 52 x 155 = 8 060 mm or 8.06 m). The G6, armed with RDM shells and propellant charges, fired a 155 mm shell over a range of 76 km, a world record for a conventional 155 mm artillery shell.
RDM is 51%-owned by Rheinmetall and 49% by South African defence group Denel.