South Africa 15 July 2013 00:00
On July 12th 2013, at Alkanptan firing range in South Africa, a week of extensive tests was completed to demonstrate the precision and terminal accuracy of Vulcano guided ammunition against a precise target at long range.
The Vulcano Guided Ammunition family consists of 127mm and 155mm ammunition with dual mode capability of GPS/ IR or GPS/SAL (semi active laser receiver) Terminal Homing.
The demonstration firings were performed under the German - Italian Program Agreement on 155mm Guided Ammunition. The Italian MoD is the main sponsor for the Vulcano program. The German MoD contributes with the SAL Terminal Homing system, fire command and ammunition programming issues as well as test and firing equipment like the PzH2000.
Diehl Defense, together with OTO Melara, participates under a Cooperation Agreement on Conventional and Guided Ammunition to the Vulcano program development . For the demonstration firings a 2x2 m target was located at a range of about 33 km. Ammo fired with only GPS terminal guidance hit the ground well below 20m distance from the target.
Ammo with GPS and SAL terminal guidance hit the 2x2 m plate demonstrating the absolute accuracy of the SAL and guidance systems.
The Chief of the Italian Mod delegation declared " it has been a very successfully campaign for the amount of recorded data and for the accuracy demonstrated by the ammunition with GPS guidance and by SAL sensor for terminal homing phase" . This assessment was confirmed by the German and Dutch government representatives present at the trials. Vulcano development and industrialization program is continuing with the objective to be ready for production within 2014.
Diehl Defence is a corporate division of the German Diehl Group with total sales of 2.95 bio. Euros, concentrating all business activities in the fields of defence and security as a holding company. Diehl Defence achieves annual sales of € 560 million with 2,950 employees and manages numerous subsidiaries, program and affiliated companies. One important field of activities of thesubsidiary Diehl BGT Defence concentrates on conventional and guided ammunition in the whole calibre spectrum relevant for armies, navies and air forces in Germany, Europe and worldwide.