Oerlikon revolver guns – designed to meet the most demanding requirements

Oerlikon revolver guns. 35 mm Oerlikon Millennium automatic naval gun.

Rheinmetall Air Defense AG (formerly Oerlikon Contraves), part of the German Rheinmetall Group, has a long tradition of designing and manufacturing air defense systems using automatic cannons.

Its Oerlikon brand has been well known around the world for over 100 years and is synonymous with the highest quality and performance in its firearm category. Oerlikon's automatic cannons have enjoyed great success in the world markets and have received the recognition of many users. For this reason, they were readily bought and delivered to customers all over the world, they were produced at the main plants, and they were also produced under license. Based on the requirements developed by the Swiss armed forces in the 60s for an anti-aircraft gun with a higher probability of hitting, the first generation of a double-barreled 35-mm artillery system was developed with a total rate of fire of 1100 rounds / min. was reached. In subsequent years, the 35 mm caliber was adopted by many users as the main caliber for protecting the barrel from air defense. Automatic guns of this caliber with the classic KDA and KDC design were and are still used in many anti-aircraft artillery installations, such as the German Gepard self-propelled gun or the Oerlikon Twin Gun (Oerlikon GDF) towed guns. The 35mm caliber was chosen because it provides the best balance between range, gun weight and rate of fire compared to 20mm, 40mm and 57mm guns. In subsequent years, 35-mm guns were improved, and new ammunition was developed (SAFEI - high-explosive fragmentation-incendiary-anti-tank, with forced fragmentation and programmable). To face new threats

symmetrical and asymmetric (high-speed air rockets, artillery shells, mortar grenades and unguided rockets, i.e. ramming targets, as well as slow and small targets, such as unmanned aerial vehicles), a KDG revolving cannon capable of firing

1000 rounds per minute. Compared to previous models, having reached a rate of fire of 550 rds / min, the KDG almost doubled the rate of fire from a single barrel, which increased its ability to hit targets. In addition to its operational advantages, the revolving barrel of the revolver is more reliable than the previous recoil solution. In order to achieve a short pause between shots (MTBS), special attention was paid to the design of cellars and guide cartridges. Less complex structurally than previous KDA/KCC guns, the KDG was ideally suited to develop the GDM 008 Millenium naval gun and its land-based sister GDF 008, with half the weight of similar ballistics. A semi-stationary version was also developed to protect highly sensitive objects (C-RAM MANTIS), as well as the Oerlikon Skyranger self-propelled complex, which can be installed on almost any armored personnel carrier (for example, in an 8 × 8 configuration).

Oerlikon Millennium

The best-known example of a marine application based on turret gun technology is the Oerlikon Millennium.

This is an advanced 35-mm multi-purpose direct defense weapon system, effective against both air and sea targets. The enormous firepower and high accuracy (dispersion of less than 2,5 mrad) of the revolver cannon, combined with the ammunition load with programmable forward dismantling, ensure that the Millennium hits high-speed air targets (including anti-ship missiles) at distances three to four times greater than that of the Millennium ". case of conventional systems of this type. The Millennium cannon is designed to withstand group, high-speed surface targets, such as: speedboats, motor boats and jet skis moving at speeds up to 40 knots, as well as various coastal, coastal or river targets. Millennium is operationally used on ships of the Royal Danish Navy of Venezuela. It proved its capabilities during the UN mission EUNavFor Atalanta off the coast of Somalia. It was also tested by the US Navy.