Mauser Presents New Naval Gun MN 30 GS at LIMA in Langkawi
24 September 2001
The navy's mission spectrum has over the past several years undergone fundamental change to match the various threat scenarios. Today, the navy must be able to open a variety of options in crisis management. They range from deployments as part of crisis reaction forces and the protection of industrial and economic areas within the national territory of coastal states to combating terrorist actions and piracy. It is particularly in this spectrum of activities that small and fast-moving units, such as speedboats equipped with appropriate multi-functional armament, have proved their value. The gun systems must be capable of superior engagement of small, fast-moving, unconventional sea targets operating from the coast or offshore. This must be possible also at close-in range.
The German company of Mauser-Werke Oberndorf Waffensysteme GmbH, with its products presented at LIMA 2001 in Langkawi (Malaysia), is meeting these requirements placed on new modern naval armaments. The focus is on the light naval gun MN 30 GS which takes centre stage at the exhibition stand of the Mauser company, a subsidiary of Rheinmetall DeTec.
The newly developed 30 mm gun was designed for self-defence of ships and as main armament of small surface units and is being offered for the PV programme of the Royal Malaysian Navy. The automatic MN 30 GS meets the specific requirements for the engagement of air, surface, fixed and moving coastal targets. The combat range with sub-calibre ammunition is up to 4000 m against surface targets. Air targets can be engaged out to 2,500 m. The gun is capable of engaging speedboats out to 2,500 m and in this case, the hit probability against ten targets of this type crossing at a speed of 40 knots for 1 kilometre is at appr. 95%.
Fire control is conducted from an operator control station with or without link to the command and control system of the ship.
The weapon used is the MK 30-2 which has already been used in many applications and is fully qualified for naval applications. Aside from armoured personnel carriers and air defence systems, the MK 30 can be found in a variety of naval guns, including systems used in Italy, France, Thailand and Venezuela. The automatic gas-operated gun is designed to fire single shots with high precision, rapid single fire up to 300 rounds and controlled bursts of up to 700 rounds per minute.
The MN 30 GS naval gun once again demonstrates the highly specialized manufacturing know-how of the Mauser company in the naval gun sector. Now representing a naval gun family of highly modern weapons in the 20 mm, 27 mm and 30 mm calibre range.
Thus, for instance, the MN 20 GS light naval gun with the MK-20 Rh 202 gun is particularly well suited for employment on small ships and boats.
In the 27 mm x 145 calibre version, it will be the MLG 27 envisaged for employment on the fleet of the German Navy - initially on the Corvette 130. This gun uses the modern BK 27 which is fitted to the MRCA Tornado of the German, Italian, British and Saudi Arabian air forces. It is also installed in the Swedish Gripen fighter aircraft and the EUROFIGHTER.
All three gun systems can be mounted without deck penetration. They can also be retrofitted as secondary armament and without any major technical effort to larger surface units, such as corvettes, frigates or supply ships.
The MN 30 GS from Mauser-Werke Oberndorf Waffensysteme GmbH, a subsidiary of Rheinmetall DeTec AG, combines low weight with high fire power and counts among the most advanced naval guns in the medium-calibre range.
