Company insight
A medium-calibre weapon for today and the future
Founded in 1994, CTA International is a joint-venture of UK-based defence manufacturer BAE Systems and its French counterpart Nexter Systems. We examine the capabilities of its 40mm cased telescoped armament system (CTAS), its ability to counter a range of threats, and the benefits it offers over other existing medium calibres.
ocated in Bourges in the heart of the historic military centre of France, CTA International (CTAI) is a 50/50 joint venture of UK-based BAE Systems and French Nexter Systems, and comprises more than 80 British and French engineers and support staff. The company is dedicated to the research and development and manufacturing of cased telescoped weapons and ammunition. The brainchild of CTAI, the 40mm Cased
L
Telescoped Armament System (40CTAS) consists of the 40CT cannon, stabilised gun drives, gun mount/turret interface, an automatic ammunition handling system and a thermal sleeve.
The 40CT gun fires up to 200 rounds per minute from its range of ammunition natures. This capability follows a rigorous bilateral research and development process. Before developing the 40CTAS, CTAI
conducted analysis on the full spectrum of calibres and concluded that 40mm cased telescoped was the ideal size to provide the best possible performance to meet present and future battlefield threats, as well as the compactness required to fit into combat vehicles without adding more than the minimal necessary weight.
A victory in its design The compact nature of the weapon system enables integration with ease into a variety of armoured vehicles, including small turret rings from 1.4m in diameter, which covers most common types of armoured vehicles. This is all made possible by CTAI’s novel gun design, which employs an unconventional breech and chamber configuration that offers a number of benefits. It allows rounds to be loaded into the weapon system from
the side along the axis of elevation – as, unlike conventional weapons, the chamber is centred on the trunnion centreline and rotates the round into the firing position. This helps make the gun very compact, with minimal intrusion into the turret space.
This not only reduces static use of space, leading to a reduced turret silhouette and the associated gains in weight and protection, but also permits extreme gun elevation up to 85°. This in turn allows turret designs to have a much lower height profile, and therefore offers lower observability and greater survivability.
One shot, one kill
It is often difficult to engage and defeat multiple targets in the battlefield quickly without giving away your position, and that was a key design point for the 40CTAS. CTAI concluded that it was imperative that the weapon system had the right level of performance to eliminate a target with one or two shots – a ‘one shot, one kill’ policy.
The volume of the weapon system overall is further reduced by the compact design of its ammunition, intended to be easily stored and handled using a linkless carousel-style ammunition handling system. This system is able to dynamically manage the full range of available ammunition natures simultaneously and allows for rapid switching of ammunition type, regardless of loading order.
The 40CTAS is designed to be retro fitted to existing fighting vehicles, with its compact size suited to the modern battlefield.
22
The greater performance available from CT ammunition means that
Defence & Security Systems International /
www.defence-and-security.com
Peter Turner Photography/
Shutterstock.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
