INTERNATIONAL DEFENSE REVIEW - AUGUST 01, 2003
MONARC attracts attention
MONARC, a modular naval artillery concept that aims to provide a heavy-hitting naval surface fire support capability by integrating the turret of a PzH 2000 self-propelled 155mm 52-caliber army howitzer on a frigate-sized ship, reportedly is receiving significant interest from the German defense ministry (MoD).
The concept would give a frigate the capability to fire 155mm DM652/662 bomblet rounds (carrying 63 bomblets each) out to a range of 35.9km, 155mm DM111 high-explosive rounds out to a range of 30.3km, as well as 155mm DM702 SMArt sensor-fuzed anti-armor ammunition rounds and other standard army 155mm munitions.
According to industry officials involved in the project, the German MoD has "started initiatives to support this program, although no funding has yet been allocated to, for instance, build a demonstrator system," said Dr Heinz-Josef Kruse, director future programs at Rheinmetall Weapons & Munitions (Unterlüss, Germany). His company, manufacturer of the 155mm/52 ordnance of the PzH 2000, is one of the three big names in German defense industry which presented the navalised PzH 2000 on 11 December 2002 (see IDR 1/2003, p14).
The other two are PzH 2000 prime contractor and system integrator Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Kiel-based naval shipbuilder Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW).
The MONARC idea, first conceived in September last year, was further substantiated in June during a land-based firing test at Rheinmetall's Unterlüss proving ground, in which a PzH 2000 turret was mounted on a 'representative mechanical rig' to simulate ship-board conditions.
For the initial presentation last December, a PzH 2000 turret had been temporarily installed on board the new F 124 frigate Hamburg, at the time under construction at HDW's main shipyard. "We're hoping to do a ship-based firing demo by the end of this year," Dr Kruse said.
The Rheinmetall executive said that it has been proven that the PzH 2000 turret fits on the F 124 frigate's main gun platform (which normally houses an Oto Melara 76mm mount). "The demonstration of the preliminary integration took only a one-and-a-half month effort," he said. "Further analysis, independent of the F 124 frigate program, started a few months ago, and it is expected that a German MoD user requirements document on naval surface fire support will be established in 2003. This will not be restricted to the future F 125 frigate program, but will include in-service platforms that could provide a more near-term capability," Dr Kruse said, adding that "our industrial co-operation continues in order to match our MoD's procurement schedule."
Stabilization of the MONARC 155mm/52 mount on a ship at sea should be "no problem at all" as ship's motion is "less difficult to deal with, from a gun stabilization point of view, than the types of motions we are dealing with when firing-on-the-move with a tank gun". Naval users could decide to just install the PzH 2000 turret on deck without adding a hoist to a munition magazine below-decks, in which case the weapon would still have a supply of 60 shells inside the turret. "If you want more it should be relatively straightforward to design and produce a hoist that can bring the 155mm shells and propellant charges up into the turret," Dr Kruse said. He added that it is foreseen that instead of using up to six individual modular charges to determine the range, new combined packages would be used, one option being to produce a charge that combines six into one. "We do not, however, need to develop a completely new charge system, we will stick with the MTLS modular artillery charge system technology from Nitrochemie."
Gunners inside the MONARC turret will be fully protected against contaminated environments as the turret will have the same internal overpressure as the gas citadel inside the ship's hull and superstructure.

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