Singapore Light weight 155mm howitzers

Well i must say thats one weird looking howitser. It looks that it is quite fast to but in firing position, tough obviosly those front tyres requires manpower to move them, or at least helping the tyres getting to the right position. Also it seems that the driver uses the hydraulic from the the driving position, not like in many other APU guns where the hydraulic is used from different spot.

Also i noticed that it still uses optical sights. Electronic/computerized aiming system linked whit the positing system would increase this guns performance even further...

Here's nice site whit good pics on the gun....http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/min...ultimedia.html

One other funny thing with these pics is that these promotional shows where the gun is being sowed to public, the Gungrew always has the best gears and clohtes...During my army time, our batterys gunleaders had to go and demonstrate the 155K98 to some hihg Marocon military delegation. They had to wear the parade uniform (wich was also the holliday uniform) and use the fighting belt during the whole presentation...god that must be difficoult and clumsy, in real fire positions, the combat belt is the first thing taken off after the crew gets out from the trucks...

But back to this singaporean gun. For it's fault, or at least it's advertisors fault must be said that it certainly isen't the first helicopter-transportable howitzer. The M198 used by USMC can be lifted by CH-53 Sea Stallion, Also Brits has released new M777 ultralight howitser wich is also selected for the USMC, tough neither these are fitted whit APU.

how is this 'self-propelled' when it clearly requires alterior source of power to propel it?

propaply just translation error, they ment the APU system...

So many wire, buttons and electronics...I thought artillery is supposed to be simple.How would this thing work if some shrapnel or something else tears one of those wires off.Sorry but for me this thing doesnt look really reliable.

So many wire, buttons and electronics...I thought artillery is supposed to be simple.How would this thing work if some shrapnel or something else tears one of those wires off.Sorry but for me this thing doesnt look really reliable.

Altouhg i have statet quite often that D-30 is more realible (at the moment) than 155K98, it aint due the wires and electronics...thrust me. It's called modern technology, even artillery can benefit from it. I snarpell hits a piece without any wires, it propaply will tear up and broke something else eq. aiming devises. If those electronic devises broke down, it's quite easy to replace and repairr them even in the field...the thing hat woryes me is when the APU brokes...we didn't even dare to think of it back in Rova...to use and move the 14ton "bich" whit manstrenght...

One other interesting feature with this singaporean howitser is that it seems to lack those slocks (or wedges...i'm bit confused of the proper english term) wich are hammered to the ground to prevent the gun from moving. It may be insignificant detail to you, but for anyone ever being in gungroup can identify me in here, it is whitout any doupt the worst thing in gunners hell (fireposition ). It's hard to even descripe it...imagine yourself hammering those 1 meter lenght slocks (weighting about 30 kg) whit this enourmous three-man hammer...and there are nine of them...it's hell even if the ground is shmoot and soft...so you can't even imagine what it is in rocky ground...or icy ground...or rocky AND icy ground as it usually are here in the norht...one group had to make 200 strokes whit hammer per slock...It always wonderes me why there aren't any pics or video clips of this hammering...and then again it dosen't, it propaply woudn't be printable material....

Originally Posted by Gollevainen

One other interesting feature with this singaporean howitser is that it seems to lack those slocks (or wedges...i'm bit confused of the proper english term) wich are hammered to the ground to prevent the gun from moving. It may be insignificant detail to you, but for anyone ever being in gungroup can identify me in here, it is whitout any doupt the worst thing in gunners hell (fireposition ). It's hard to even descripe it...imagine yourself hammering those 1 meter lenght slocks (weighting about 30 kg) whit this enourmous three-man hammer...and there are nine of them...it's hell even if the ground is shmoot and soft...so you can't even imagine what it is in rocky ground...or icy ground...or rocky AND icy ground as it usually are here in the norht...one group had to make 200 strokes whit hammer per slock...It always wonderes me why there aren't any pics or video clips of this hammering...and then again it dosen't, it propaply woudn't be printable material....

It probably has some kind of wedges, but since this was a demonstration and they obviously did not fire any projectile (no recoil justa puff of smoke) they did not use any.
pounding those wedges seems like hard work indeed. Makes you wish for a ceasar or atmos 2000. Or why not even that turreted k98 on a t-55 that patria developed for egypt.

You may be right...The trailing legs seems to lack spot where those wedges are transported (note. this may just be the case cos the guns are propaply pre-production models..) Tough i'm not sure how things are done when guns are moved via helicopters...it may well be a safety messures that nothing loose cannot hang on the sides of the gun. Also as there obviosly isen't much room for big equipment holdings, all lose stuff (and there are quite much of them whit even APU fitted guns) must be transported in the hauler (or in this case in the chopper...) I must say when it comes to helicopters and artillery, i'm quite cluelles...they should have teach us to helicopter assaults also..."hey did you check the wires connecting the howitser to the copter?".."Juu juu"..."you're sure?"..."yeas(?) "...."THEN WHERE THE FUCK IS THE HOWITSER????"........

Here's an article I found on the gun:

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/hta.../20051102.aspx

Lightweight Semi-Self-Propelled 155mm Howitzer
November 2, 2005: The Singapore Army has developed the Singapore Lightweight Howitzer (SLWH) Pegasus. Weighing in at a measly (for a heavy artillery piece) 5.4 tons (4898.9 kg), Pegasus is probably the world's lightest 155mm 39 caliber artillery piece with self-propelled capability, and was specially designed for helimobile operations. It's abilities were demonstrated at a media event to mark its official service introduction, when a CH-47D Chinook heavy-lift helicopter dropped off an underslung Pegasus and then landed to disembark an 8 man crew. The crew then used the Pegasus's Auxiliary Power Unit ( APU) system to drive it to a firing location, and then proceeded to bring the weapon to battery within 2.5 minutes.

The SLWH Pegasus is part of a recent trend by many armies to move from helimobile 105mm howitzers towards those of 155mm caliber, and it will replace GIAT 105mm Light Guns currently in service. The primary reasons for the shift to 155mm for 'light' guns is that this will allow armies to standardize all their gun artillery to one caliber, thus reducing supply complications, as well as providing helimobile forces artillery with greater range and lethality For example, the M1 High Explosive round used by the M119A1 105mm Light Gun, currently in US Army service, will deliver 7lbs (3.2kg) of explosives to a range of 7 miles (11.5km), while the M795 155mm HE round, when fired by a 39 caliber howitzer like the US Army's M198, will deliver 23.8lbs (10.8kg) of explosives to 14.3 miles (23km).

The US Army and US Marine Corps, for example, will soon field the British developed M777A1 155mm 39 caliber Ultralightweight Field Howitzer (UFH), which at 4.1 tons (3745kg) is more than a ton lighter than the SLWH Pegasus. While both these howitzers use light materials such as titanium and aluminum to keep their weights low, the Pegasus' 'extra' weight comes from an APU that not only gives it a short-range self-deploy capability, with a maximum speed of 12kmh (8mph) but also powers the Pegasus's ammunition loading system to reduce the manual workload of the Pegasus' crew.

The 155mm 39calibre SLWH Pegasus is actually the fifth homegrown 155mm artillery system that has been developed in Singapore since the 1980s by Singapore Technologies Kinetics (STK) and its predecessor, Chartered Industries of Singapore (CIS). The first weapon was the CIS FH-77, a 155mm 39 caliber towed howitzer. This was followed by the STK 52 caliber FH-2000 in the late 1990s, which also had an APU for short range self-deployment and automated ammunition loading. In 2002, STK unveiled a 7 ton wheeled vehicle mounted 39 caliber weapon called the 155mm Light Weight Self Propelled Howitzer (LWSPH), which never entered Singapore Army service, and in late 2003, the 23 ton 39 caliber Primus Self Propelled Howitzer (SPH) was unveiled. The SLWH Pegasus will join both the FH-2000 and the Primus SPH in Singapore Army service. -- Shawn Chung

For details on the Pegasus:
http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/min...slwh/home.html
http://www.stengg.com/CoyCapPro/detail.aspx?pdid=270
For details on the Primus:
http://www.mindef.gov.sg/weapons/sph/
For details on the LWSPH:
http://www.stengg.com/CoyCapPro/detail.aspx?pdid=140

errr..... Gollevainen, I have asked one of the forumers in a Singapore military forum, he served in the artillery formation b4 maybe this will be a good answer

The opening of the front tyres is powered by the APU so that is not labour-intensive. The howitzer is capable of moving at 12 kmh on its own using the APU. It's not the first helicopter-transportable howitzer, of course, since the Russians have helicopters that carry more internally than a C-130 but it's the first self-propelled howitzer that can be carried by a medium-lift helo like a Chinook. The spades at the ends of the trail legs are self-embedding and are much smaller than on any other howitzer, since the advanced recoil system lowers the peak recoil so much -- no hammering needed. Indeed, the spades for all Singaporean howitzers since the FH88 have been self-embedding, due to the exact hammering problem the Finnish poster mentioned. An electronic laying system would of course be preferable to the optical sighting system, and can be added in the future if the requirement emerges. Singaporean guns have always been rather heavily automated, hence the complex look of the weapon -- this is to save manpower and reduce crew fatigue. The FH88 and FH2000 are also very automated, and the Primus even more so. There are indeed a lot of hydraulic and electrical systems on the gun, though the gun can be manhandled in an emergency like the FH88 and FH2000. Of course, completely manual operation of the FH88 or especially the FH2000 is unbelievably tiring . Hopefully the Pegasus is easier to deal with if all the powered systems break.

The Pegasus has no autoloader. Neither do the FH88 and FH2000. They just have power assist for some difficult tasks like ramming the projectile and laying the gun. Without power assist you'll have to take 5 minutes to bring the gun into battery and up to half an hour to embed the spades. With power assist the gun enters battery on its own, and you just drive the gun in reverse gear to embed the spades. On each shot without flick ramming, you will need to lower the gun and have two or three people ram the nearly 50kg projectile in with a ramming rod hard enough for the projectile to stay in the forcing cone. With a flick rammer, you just press a button and the round pops in. It makes a huge difference. Barrel overheating is rarely a problem, since the effort to prepare the ammo and bring it from the ammo point to the gun is so siong, even a very "on" gun crew will find it hard to keep up the sustained rate of fire for very long even with power assist.

thanks Delphi...thats cleared out many things...

I must say my appriciation towards this howitser grows every day...hat's of to singaporean artillery industry...The self-embleing is an enourmous avantage. Our 155K98 comes to fireposition as fast as any APU powered gun, but as i say the hammering tooks lots of valuable time. Another time-consumingthing is the camoflaging the gun. Huge camoflage-net is raised above the gun making the wholecomplex look like a giantic tent whit 52 cal barrels sticking out. This operation is also quite laborous exspecially when the net is wet and filled whit sand. It weightes so much that it requires four man even to lift it...but it is worht of it. The net (at least those used by us) gives you 100% thermal cover. We once were able to look our fireposition from termocam and we couldn't tell where the guns laid if covered properly...i'm not sure does Singaporean's have these kind of nets?

Our gun also had this "automatic loader" as we called it. It was basicly this big sledge where the ammunition or "pig" was put on and the system was lifted to the rear part of the muzzle (the rear muzle had this "arm" left behind when the muzzle retreats after fire.) The arm goes back forward pushing the "pig" to the forcing cone. It wasen't particulry succesfull thing as it required almoust as much muscels as the normal loading (normal loading was made exactly the same put instead of the mechanical arm, the loader just sticks the "pig" whit his loading club eg. potatoe masher) Also only one type of ammoes where allowed to use this "autoloader" and we usually shot the other ones

But back to the singaporean guns...i'm pretty sure that in the future, a computerised firecontrol/aiming devises will be fitted thus making this gun propaply the best towed howitsers that the is...or at least most "userfriendly" when looking it from gunners point of view...

Ps. I'm not sure how it is made in different nation armyes ( and a matter a fact how it is done even in finland as we never roke the thing) But if APU fitted gun somehow looses it power, the gun won't be a much usefull even if mechanical eg. muscle power is avialbe. Even one non-APU fitted gun in APU battery will slow down the batterys battle readiness unaceptably long. Therefore i belive that if some gun brokes its APU, a new gun is delivered to the battery as soon as possiple and repairing team will work on the broken one...the chain is as strong (or fast in this case) as it's weakest link....

yar.......Gollevainen, we here also got those camo nets. They are used to conceal big calibre weapons or command post.

Hi Gollevainen,
I want to ask a few question. The 155mmK98 u mention is it a indigenious Finland artillery? Does Finland have any self propelled guns on tracks attached to the armoured elements, or it does'nt fit into the protracted war strategy? Let's say a artillery regiment belonging to a division is tasked to deploy and fire, how long doe it take to set up the gun, erect the camouflage nets and start firing, How long usually to shoot and scoot? Lastly isn't it a little dangerous as towed artillery seems to take a long time to deploy, considering the risk of modern day artillery radar?

P.S: If u find my questions a little sensitive or classified, ok then just ignore. Thanks.

Well We have Soviet 2S1 122mm SP howitzers and 2S5 152mm gannon attached to our sole armoured brigade, but Comonly they are facing the same missrespect that armour branch have in our army. tracked SP artillery arent any use along whit fast moving wheeled mobile brigades or in seperate battalion sized ligth infantry (gurellia) troops. They arent exactly a cost effective at all and Keep wonder, why some armyes still bothers to devolp them, when wheeled solutions offers much better overal qualityes.

We did have produced a self propelled version for export of the new 155mm whit open turret (closed during transportation) chasis of T-55. Its rather intresting looking desing, but sofar I havent found any pics of it in the net. This was offered (and to my knowlidge, accepted) for Egypt.

But whit that other question, We dont have division sized formations, but Mechanised brigades have a two battalion strong regiment.

how long doe it take to set up the gun, erect the camouflage nets and start firing,Lastly isn't it a little dangerous as towed artillery seems to take a long time to deploy, considering the risk of modern day artillery radar

Well if we would do some sort of "shoot and scoop" we wouldn't use the nets nor any other gamoflage...as the SP artillery never uses ones. The battalion is deployed in the fireposition in mere of minutes, the main issue is how long it takes to get the battalion and battery HQ operational. If we build the fixed communication network ,it will take almoust an hour. But if we use radioes (more vunerable to jamming) then it's matter of minute. The new c3 vehicles (modified XA-200) could almoust direct the fire via moving. Our fire battery can achive the firing readyness in maxium of ten minutes if the ammunitions are carryed with the battery (in trainings we had to wait the "pigs" sometimes hours...). Only delying issue is the hammering...the gamoflage nets and other seccondry stuff is carried only if we plan to stay the position longer periods.
The speed i achive mostly thanks to the modern computerized location/position system based on GPS and gyroscope. This eliminates the use of optical range transfer systems whit survey teams and their direction circles (my brother served in battalion HQ as one of this dudes).
To my knowlidge the anti-battery radars are based on the tracking incoming projectiles eg. its affecting only after the fire has been opened. Ín there the APU comes to its prime as the battery can shoot short bursts and then scoop out. The gun can be put on transport position in two to three minutes and the the gun just moves to the new position by it's APU and the crew travels by the hauling truck. In effect it isen't so much slower than the much more expensive SP systems. As I have told before, my experiences of SP limits to a fire demonstration show during our long, long, long, long...Lapland fire camp, when 2S5 along whit other towed systems direct fire. That old smoky locomotive didnt hit a shit and broke up just when it was time to leave the arena. You can imagine how fun and upspirit for us real gunners.

P.S: If u find my questions a little sensitive or classified, ok then just ignore. Thanks

Actually They didnt told us not to tell anybody... Thougth that new HQ vehchiles were 'secret' systems, not offically fielded by Finnish army. All conscripts who served with them, were obligated to sing a confidental agreement and all sort of photographing was prohibited in imidiate range of these vechiles....meaning that those communication clowns (singal troops) constantly toke pics of them whit their mobile phones...