Recently, the British "Challenger 2" main battle tank equipped with the German Rheinmetall NG-130mm tank gun launched a new demonstration film. As we all know, the artillery of mainstream main battle tanks in the world today is divided into two calibers, one is 120 mm in the West, and the other is 125 mm in Russian. Although these two calibers have their own advantages and disadvantages, they maintain dozens of calibers. The balance of the year; now, the German Rheinmetall NG-130mm tank gun will once again trigger fierce competition in the field of tank firepower.
German Rheinmetall has tested and found that the NG 130mm tank gun has extremely high penetrating power. It can be integrated into a new generation of tanks, and can also be used for many existing tanks. Modernization and upgrading. The length of the NG 130 mm tank gun is 6.63 meters (about 51 times the diameter), the barrel weighs about 1400 kg, and the total weight of the tank gun is about 3.5 tons (including the shock absorption mechanism); from the data, the NG 130 mm tank gun is indeed It is big and heavy.
Although the increase in caliber increased the size and weight of the NG 130mm tank gun, the increase in the charge of the shells allowed the armor-piercing core to obtain higher initial speed and stronger penetration; According to Rheinmetall, an 8% increase in caliber can increase kinetic energy by 50% compared with the current 120mm smoothbore tank gun of Rheinmetall.
Rheinmetall Group also designed a new 130mm sub-caliber armor-piercing projectile, which uses a new type of high-energy propellant that is not sensitive to explosions. The length of the armor-piercing projectile is about 1.3 meters and the weight exceeds 30 kg.
The new 130mm sub-caliber armor-piercing projectile has better energy efficiency and penetration than Rheinmetall’s existing 120mm L55/L55A1 tank gun in the live fire test against the target.
Because of the NG 130mm tank gun and the new 130mm sub-caliber armor-piercing pop-up ability, it can also cause damage to the next generation of main battle tanks. According to predictions, the NG 130mm tank gun will be used for American M1A1/A2 main battle tanks, Japanese type 90 main battle tanks, Korean K1A1 and K2 main battle tanks, Turkish "Altai" main battle tanks, and German "Leopard 2A7", etc. Upgrade and modification of the main battle tank.
It is reported that Russia is also developing and testing a 152mm caliber tank gun to equip the new generation T-14 "Amata" main battle tank; France has also launched a 140mm caliber. Tank guns, but due to technology and some other problems that could not be solved, the project was terminated; however, when the material and technology broke through the bottleneck, the French 140mm caliber tank guns are estimated to resurrect.
In 2016, at the Eurosatory defense exhibition in Paris, France, Rheinmetall AG launched the first 130 mm caliber NG 130 tank gun technology demonstration prototype; in November 2019, the NG 130 type The tank gun has fired at least 80 shells. International observers believe that due to the gradual maturity of the German Rheinmetall NG 130 tank gun, the fierce competition in the field of tank firepower will be "bloody" again.
