ARMAMENTS

The VULCANO is a family of unguided (BER) and guided (GLR) ammunition for 127mm naval guns as well as 155mm land artillery systems such as the P5 2000H. The said ammunition has been jointly developed by the Italian Leonardo and the German Diehl.

The OTO VULCANO 127mm ammunition is conceived to give the 127/54 C and the OTO 127/64 Light Weight (LW) Naval Guns the capability to meet any present and future requirement for Precision Naval Fire Support and Long Range engagement of Surface Targets. OTO VULCANO 127mm Ballistic Extended Range (BER) maintains the anti-air role as well.

The OTO VULCANO 127mm rounds capitalize on new and emerging technology-based upon a fin-stabilized airframe with canard control for terminal guidance; mechanical interfaces are the same as standard 127mm ammunition.

Three types of Vulcano ammunition are available:

• Ballistic Extended Range (BER) unguided multirole ammunition with multi-function programmable fuze,
• Guided Long Range (GLR) ammunition with IR sensor for the anti-ship role, and
• IMU+GPS autonomous guidance for precise NFS actions (a Semi-Active Laser sensor can be fitted as an option).

All the systems needed to operate OTO VULCANO 127mm ammunition are integrated into the OTO 127/64 LW Control Console and no mechanical modification to the OTO 127/64 LW gun is required.

The OTO VULCANO 127mm ammunition does not affect the barrel lifespan and, according to Leonardo, it is fully compatible with in-service OTO 127/54 C guns with the addition of a module, with the functions of: 

• Ammunition’s fuze and guidance system, and 
• Mission Planner and Executer for Naval Fire Support both in stand-alone mode and in interaction with ship’s Network Centric Systems

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Ammunition Configurations

Ballistic Extended Range (BER)

• Ranger of up to 60 km 
• Multifunctional Fuze
• Notched High Explosive (HE) warhead

Guided Long Range (GLR)

• Ranger of up to 80 km 
• Autonomous IMU+GPS guidance
• IR Terminal guidance
• Notched High Explosive (HE) warhead

Naval Fire Support (NFS)

• Ranger of up to 100 km 
• Autonomous IMU+GPS guidance
• Notched High Explosive (HE) warhead
• Terminal guidance for Semi-Active Laser sensor (optional)

Ship integration

Any equipment to operate Vulcano ammunition is integrated into the gun control cabinet including:

• Guidance Control Unit
• Programming device for ammo initialization
• Digital interface with ship data transfer system

In addition to the 127mm family of ammunition, the VULCANO 76 mm family of ammunition is currently being developed. The VULCANO 76 mm will have a range of up to 40 km, providing the option to be integrated with appropriate modifications in all 76 mm guns, which are in the arsenal of 56 naval forces around the world including the Hellenic Navy.

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