OTO Melara 76 mm

The OTO Melara 76 mm gun is a naval autocannon built and designed by the Italian defence company OTO Melara. It is based on the OTO Melara 76/62C and evolved toward 76/62 SR and 76/62 Strales.[1]

OTO Melara 76 mm
76/62 Super Rapid
The OTO Melara 76mm Super Rapid as mounted in a stealth cupola (to reduce radar cross-section) onboard HTMS Bhumibol Adulyadej.
TypeNaval gun
Place of originItaly
Service history
In service1964–present
Used bySee operators
Production history
DesignerOTO Melara
DesignedCompact: 1963
Super Rapid: 1985
Strales: 2004
ManufacturerOtobreda: 1963–2001
BHEL Haridwar : 1995–present (under licence)
OTO Melara (subsidiary of Finmeccanica): 2001–2015
Leonardo-Finmeccanica: since 2016
Leonardo: since 2017
ProducedCompact: 1964
Super Rapid: 1988
Strales: 2008
VariantsSee variants
Specifications
MassEmpty: 7.5 tonnes (17,000 lb)
Barrel length62 caliber: 4,724.4 mm (186.00 in)
Crewremote controlled
Shell76×636mmR
cartridge weight 12.5 kilograms (28 lb)
shell weight 6.3 kilograms (14 lb)
propellant weight 2.35 kilograms (5.2 lb)
Caliber76.2 mm (3.00 in)
Elevation−15°/+85°
speed: 35°/s (acceleration: 72°/s²)
Traverse360°
speed: 60°/s (acceleration: 72°/s²)
Rate of fireCompact: 85 rounds/min
Super Rapid: 120 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity915 m/s (3,000 ft/s)
Maximum firing rangeHE-PFF 16,000 m

SAPOMER 20,000 m

VULCANO 40,000 m
Feed systemMagazine capacity:
80 ready rounds on Compact gun mount

The system is compact enough to be installed on relatively small warships. Its high rate of fire and the availability of several types of ammunition make it capable of short-range anti-missile point defence, anti-aircraft, anti-surface, and ground support. Ammunition includes armour-piercing, incendiary, directed fragmentation effects, and a guided round marketed as capable of destroying maneuvering anti-ship missiles. It can be installed in a stealth cupola.

The OTO Melara 76 mm has been widely exported, and is in use by sixty navies. It was favored over the French 100mm naval gun for the joint French/Italian Horizon-class frigate project and FREMM frigate.

On 27 September 2006 Iran announced it had started mass production of the Fajr-27, which is a reverse-engineered copy of the OTO Melara 76 mm Compact gun.[2]

Other specifications
  • Cooling: sea water—fresh water for flushing
  • Electrical Power supply
    • 440 V, 3-phase, 60 Hz, main circuit;
    • 115 V, 1-phase, 400 Hz, servo and synchro network

Variants
The original "Compact" variant with a circular cupola.
The newer "Super Rapid" version with a diagonal, stealthy cupola

Compact

The original version has a rate of fire of 85 rounds per minute.

Super Rapid

The Super Rapid or "Super Rapido" variant, with a higher rate of fire of 120 rounds per minute, was developed in the early 1980s and remains current as of 2023. The Super Rapid's higher rate of fire was achieved by designing a faster feed system.

Strales System

The Italian navy preferred the improved Super Rapido with Strales System and DART ammunition to the Fast Forty 40 mm CIWS in the anti-missile defense role as it is capable of countering several subsonic missiles up to 8,000 meters away. It is a medium caliber gun with relatively long range, and can also be used against surface targets.[3]

Sovraponte

The 76/62 Sovraponte ("over deck") is a new compact lightweight mount for the 76/62 gun. The system is around 30–40% lighter than the standard Super Rapid and its installation requires no penetration of the deck below; the mount houses 76 ready-to-fire rounds and is available for sale both with or without the Strales system. The Sovraponte mount was installed for the first time on the Thaon di Revel-class patrol vessel of the Italian Navy, positioned above the roof of the helicopter hangar.[4]

Ammunition

To provide multiple roles for the gun, OTO provides the user with wide ranges of specialized ammunition:[5]

  • HE standard: weight 6.296 kg, range 16 km, effective 8 km (4 km vs. air targets at 85°)
  • MOM: developed by OTO (Multirole OTO Munition)
  • PFF: anti-missile projectile, with proximity fuze and tungsten balls embedded in the shell for defined fragmentation effect
  • SAPOM: 6.35 kg (0.46 kg HE), range 16 km (SAPOMER: 20 km) semi-armour piercing
  • DART: guided projectile for anti-aircraft and anti-missile manoeuvering targets[6]
  • VULCANO: 5 kg, guided projectile with a maximum range around 40 km (it is a smaller version of the 127 mm Vulcano)[7]

Fire control system

There were evolutions in the gun's fire control systems as well. The early versions (Compatto) utilised radars such the RTN-10X Orion (made by Selenia, now Selex);

From the early 1980s the gun was equipped with a more powerful and flexible system, the RTN-30X (used with the Dardo-E CIWS system and known within the Italian Navy as SPG-73), that was capable to manage both guns (40, 76, and 127 mm calibres) and missiles (Sea Sparrow-Aspide). This system came into service with the Italian Navy on the cruiser Garibaldi (C551: the RTN-30X entered service first on the Maestrale-class frigates; the Dardo 40 mm turret was slaved to the smaller and older RTN-20X radars), but still with the twin 40 mm Dardo's turrets. The first ship equipped with Dardo E and 76 mm Super Rapido was the upgraded Audace-class destroyers, later followed by the Durand de la Penne class. The 76/62 has also been used with many other fire control systems when not in Italian service.

Fuses

There have been many developments in the fuses, essential to shoot down low-flying missiles. The best fuze developed for the 76/62 guns is arguably the 3A-Plus programmable multi-role fuse, manufactured by OTO Melara and Simmel Difesa, introduced in the early 2000s. This fuse requires the installation of a fuse programmer in the mount.

The programmable multi-role fuse features several modes including a time mode for air burst and a number of proximity modes: gated proximity, anti-missile proximity, conventional air defense proximity and anti-surface proximity.

The fusing includes a DSP which rejects ground/sea clutter and so is capable of detecting a missile flying as low as two meters above sea level. It has the capability to recognise a target at a 10-meter stand-off. In all, the fuze greatly increases the effectiveness of the gun when engaging anti-ship missiles.

DART

Since the 1980s efforts were made for development of guided 76 mm ammunition, but this was not achieved until recently. The first such ammunition was the CCS (Course Corrected Shell), also known as 'CORRETTO'; a joint program of OTO and British Aerospace.[8] Work started in 1985. The projectile had several small rockets in order to deviate the trajectory. Radio commands were sent from the ship FCS. The FCS did not know the exact position of the projectile, only that of the target. This system was too complex and unreliable, so OTO studied another development in order to obtain a real 'guided ammunition'.

The result of this development is a system which was called DAVIDE just for the Italian market and STRALES for export purposes while the fired guided ammunition is called DART (Driven Ammunition Reduced Time of flight).[8]

The DART projectile is similar in many aspects to other hyper-velocity systems, for example the Starstreak SAM missile's multi-dart warhead, but is a guided gun projectile with radio controls and a proximity fuze for low level engagement (up to 2 meters over the sea). DART is fired at 1,200 m/s (3,900 ft/s), can reach 5 km range in only 5 seconds, and can perform up to 40G maneuver.[9] The DART projectile is made of two parts: the forward is free to rotate and has two small canard wings for flight control. The aft part has the 2.5 kg warhead (with tungsten cubes and the 3A millimetric wave new fuse), six fixed wings and the radio receivers.[8]

The guidance system is Command Line of Sight (CLOS). It uses a TX antenna installed on gun. The radio-command for them is provided on a broadcast data-link (Ka Band).[8]

The first lot of DART 76mm guided ammunition, produced by OTO Melara, was successfully tested at the end of March, 2014. The firing trials were conducted on board one of the Italian Navy's ships equipped with Strales 76mm SR and Selex NA25 fire control system.[10] The first firing trials of the DART ammunition bought by Colombia in 2012 were successfully conducted in the Caribbean Sea on 29 August from the 76/62 Strales inner-layer defence system fitted to its modernized FS 1500 Padilla-class frigates.[11]

VULCANO

The more recent development is the VULCANO 76 ammunition system. Basically, it is a scaled-down version of the 127–155 mm Vulcano family of extended-range projectiles developed by OTO Melara; guided by an inertial navigation system and Global Positioning Systems, it is capable of hitting targets twice the distance of normal 76 mm gun ammunition.[12] GPS-IMU guidance and IR or SALT Terminal sensor.[13] The Vulcan 76 GLR ammunition is expected to complete the development, test and qualification process by late 2022 with the delivery of production rounds to customers from 2023–24 onwards.[14]

Other uses
Main article: Rooikat

Most of the basic ammunition types offered for the OTO Melara 76mm can also be fired from the South African Rooikat armoured car with slight modification to change from electric to percussion primers. This is the only land-based vehicle system capable of deploying the same ammunition as its naval counterpart.[15]

Operators
Map with OTO Melara 76mm operators in blue


Asia
 Bangladesh
 Indonesia
 India
 Israel
JMSDF's Asagiri-class destroyer – JS Setogiri (DD-156) showing off her main gun at maximum elevation of +85°.
 Japan
 North Korea (OTO Melara 76mm gun believed to have been acquired illegally from Iran or Myanmar)[17]
 South Korea
 Malaysia
 Myanmar
 Oman
 Pakistan
 Philippines[18]
 Saudi Arabia
The OTO Melara 76mm Super Rapid gun mounted on the Victory-class corvette – RSS Valour (89)
 Singapore
 Sri Lanka
 Taiwan (Republic of China)
 Thailand
 Turkey
 United Arab Emirates
 Lebanon

 Vietnam

Africa
 Algeria
 Egypt
 Morocco
 South Africa
 Tunisia

Europe
 Belgium
 Denmark
 France
Two turrets on the Horizon type frigate Chevalier Paul.
 Germany
 Georgia
 Greece
76mm OTO Melara cannon on the Irish Naval Service patrol vessel LÉ Niamh
 Ireland
 Italy
Oto Melara 76/62 mm Strales Sovraponte Anti-aircraft gun on Italian offshore patrol vessel Francesco Morosini
 Netherlands
 Norway
 Poland
 Portugal
 Romania
  • Regele Ferdinand
  • Regina Maria
 Spain
 Ukraine

Oceania
 Australia

North America
 Canada
The Mk75 in use aboard USCGC Gallatin, 2005.
Loading of the 76 mm shells
Underdeck of a Mark 75 gun
Various aspect of the OTO Melara 76 mm Mark 75 gun in US service
 United States
 Mexico

South America
 Argentina
 Brazil
 Chile
 Colombia
 Ecuador
 Peru
 Venezuela

Future Operators
 Bulgaria

The Bulgarian Navy's New Multifunctional patrol ships will be armed with an OTO Melara 76/62mm SP/MF(Super Rapid, Multiple feed) Cannon.[21]

See also
  • 76mm/L62 Allargato – the direct precursor of the Melara
  • AK-176 – a similar Soviet/Russian weapon
  • Otomatic – a land-based SPAA version of the Super Rapid, mounted on OF-40 chassis
  • Draco – a land-based SPAA version of the Strales system, mounted on B1 Centauro chassis

References
  1. "Italy 76 mm/62 (3") Compact, SR – NavWeaps".
  2. "Iran to mass produce new artillery gun". Middle East Online. 27 September 2006. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
  3. Annati, Massimo: La difesa antimissile della MM, RiD magazine, Chiavari, September 2006
  4. "Le artiglierie navali di Leonardo". Rivista Italiana Difesa (in Italian). Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  5. Po, Enrico, April 1997
  6. "DART". www.leonardocompany.com (in Italian). Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  7. Stanglini, Ruggero: Dart/DAVIDE, antimissile, ma non solo, PD Magazine, Ed.ai, Firenze, June 2003
  8. Annati, Massimo, 2006
  9. OTO STRALES Guidance System for 76MM and OTO DART Ammunition Brochure
  10. "The Strales 76mm system with DART guided ammunition". 18 April 2014. Archived from the original on 30 April 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  11. "Colombia conducts first DART firings". 17 September 2014. Archived from the original on 17 September 2014.
  12. Po, Eugenio: Oto Melara guarda al futuro, RiD Magazine, July 2009
  13. "Vulcano 76 mm". Oto Melara. 17 September 2014. Archived from the original on 18 September 2014.
  14. "Leonardo's 76/62 mm Super Rapido: the full spectrum medium artillery". EDR Magazine. 10 July 2020.
  15. Jane's Armour and Artillery, 2001–2002, Volume 23 p. 244-345.
  16. "Indonesia commissions shore-based 76 mm naval gun". Janes.com. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  17. "H I Sutton – Covert Shores". www.hisutton.com. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  18. Orpiano, Pitz (26 August 2019). "The Philippine Navy Fleet's 76mm Oto Melara Main Primary Guns". Pitz Defense Analysis. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  19. "DCNS contracts Oto Melara to supply 76/62 SRMF guns for Egypt's Gowinds – IHS Jane's 360". Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  20. "NS Durban to be OPVs home port". DefenceWeb. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  21. "С колко ще поскъпнат новите кораби? МО започва да ги въоръжава". Mediapool.bg (in Bulgarian). 18 April 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
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