What will happen if the two champion weapons manufacturers from France collaborate, the results can be expected to be of high quality. Such as Nexter Systems and Thales which have released the final design for the naval air defense system in the 40 mm caliber segment.
The two companies, which are also known as defense equipment suppliers to the TNI, expect the delivery of the product, known as RapidFire, to the French Navy in the next few months.
Nexter Systems and Thales in particular showcased a full mockup of the final RapidFire design at the biennial Euronaval Trade Conference, taking place in Paris 18 – 21 October 2022.
RapidFire is not a weapon system designed impromptu, because RapidFire has been developed since 2019 for the needs of the French Navy. RapidFire is designed for low-altitude ground-to-air defense systems, particularly in anti-drone missions, and can protect ships, ground units, or bases from various threats such as jet skis, speedboats, and loitering munitions, or missiles up to a range of fire. effective 4,000 meters.
The system on the RapidFire is based on the 40CTA (40 mm Cased Telescoped Ammunition) gun that was jointly developed 25 years ago by Nexter and BAE Systems, under the joint venture, CTAI.
The 40CTA gun is already in use on the Jaguar EBRC armored shell, which is being developed for France and Belgium, and will also be installed on the Ajax armored fuselage being developed by General Dynamics for the British Army.
RapidFire's initial program was to send four units to the French Navy which it plans to mount on its newest tanker, known in French as the Batiments Ravitailleurs de Force, or BRF Jacques Chevallier Class – with two guns on each ship.
Under the initial contract, 40 RapidFire units will be delivered to the French Navy to be installed on patrol boats and minesweepers in the future. The RapidFire can also serve as secondary artillery for frigates, destroyers and aircraft carriers.
RapidFire is equipped with dedicated Anti-Aerial Airburst (A3B) munitions for air targets. Nexter is currently undergoing two years of internal qualification for testing with the firing of the A3B munition, which must then be tested and qualified by the French military procurement office, the Delegation Generale de l'Armement (DGA).
Overall RapidFire will be equipped with five types of munitions, including A3B, munitions can be automatically identified and selected to counter the specified threat.
Equipped with optronic devices on the turret, the RapidFire is capable of operating independently or connected to the combat management system, and the turret operates passively when not in firing mode. Nexter said, RapidFire will later add the ability to use guided munitions.
RapidFire includes several adaptations of the ground-based variant, such as to account for different ammunition weights. Both the land and naval variants will be assembled on the same production line, with modifications only occurring late in the process.
Quoted from defensenews.com (10/18/2022), apart from running production for orders to the French Navy, Thales and Nexter expected a number of export opportunities for RapidFire, but both companies declined to offer specifics.
In terms of caliber and capability specifications, RapidFire is on par with the Leonardo Marlin 40 which will be installed on the KRI Bung Karno 369 corvette, or the Bofors 40 MK4 produced by BAE Systems.
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