Archives

United Kingdom (1958) Self-Propelled Gun – None built

Spartan began as a design study at the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham for a Weapon and Fighting Vehicle Design involving the Officers on the group as well as members of the Technical Staff Course. The project was for the design of a close support artillery weapon that would be able to take part in the 1958 Tactical Battle in Nuclear War doctrine.

The UK was both at the forefront and also, paradoxically, a late bloomer in the Self Propelled Artillery (SPG) game, with the first platforms being the Mk.I Gun Carriers in World War 1. These were built as a result of the tank making its debut on the battlefield and the sudden realization that conventional horse-drawn artillery could be left lagging behind a more mobile army. The first of these was ready on March 3rd, 1917, participating in a Tank Trials Day. Fifty vehicles were ordered by the Army, to be produced by Kitson & Co. While the thought process was in the right area, they were still hindered by their ungainly design and never used in anger.

Various other systems were experimented with and, running alongside, the UK also built a series of vehicles called Dragons (a name taken from the simplification of ‘Drag Gun’) but these were no more than mechanical mules. What was needed was an all in one system, which was solved by the Birch Gun.

The Birch Gun, named after General Sir Noel Birch, who was Master General of Ordnance at the time, was a coupling of an 18 pdr gun (83.3 mm) with a Vickers Medium Mk. II chassis by the Royal Arsenal. This produced what could be argued as the first modern SPG, with a front-mounted engine, rotating gun turret, a crew that could travel with the weapon, and good cross country performance. Birch Guns were used in the Experimental Mechanized Force maneuvers of 1928 but by 1931 they had all been removed from service. This revolutionary design, which put the army decades ahead of its rivals, went the same way as anything that was new, innovative, or remotely useful to the army; precisely nowhere, as they chose not to use it. This inability or unwillingness to adapt or welcome new concepts would stymie the British Army until the present day where they still have the same issue.

By 1939, the UK realized it was inevitably going to be embroiled in another war with Germany and her allies. Hitler’s rise to power and the swift annexation of Czechoslovakia followed by the invasion of Poland led the UK to try and rapidly get the next generation of military vehicles into service as it was clear that mechanized mobility had been key to Germany’s success so far. Unfortunately, lessons learned with the Birch gun were not replicated and throughout most of the Second World War, the UK’s mobile self-propelled guns were lacking compared to both her opponents and her Allies.

Post-war, the UK began to reinvest in the concept of mobile artillery and, with new threats looming in the shape of Soviet Russia, new doctrines and tactics had to be accounted for in the design work. Several different vehicles and concepts were initialized. The FV304 and FV305 were to be built on the FV300 chassis armed with 25 pdr (88 mm) and 5.5 inch (139.7 mm) guns. Work stopped with only partial construction on the first and early layout work completed on the latter.

FV3802 and FV3805 were another two programs. FV 3802 was to be armed with the 25 pdr. while FV3805 was to have the 5.5 inch gun. Both were mounted on modified Centurion chassis in rear large casemates. Two prototypes were made (P1 and P2), although neither were accepted for service.

SPARTAN

The introduction of tactical nuclear weapons (one must remember that, at this point in history, the consensus all round was that the next war would be nuclear without a doubt) left the army in need of new tactics based around mobility, counter-attack, and survival in an irradiated wasteland that would be the conflict zone. To avoid offering a nuclear strike target, the artillery had to be able to concentrate its effort by increased range, rate of fire, and lethality whilst having good mobility to remain dispersed and yet stay in contact. Protection also had to be altered. Open topped vehicles were unsuitable for this type of warfare and therefore protection had to be ensured to protect from flash burns, secondary blast effects as well as conventional threats.

The designers decided that heavy and conventional artillery would be required to break through the surviving enemy defenses, larger long-range field guns would be situated further back from where it’s believed tactical nuclear weapons would be used, and so they settled on the mobile medium range of SPG. Each vehicle would need to be amphibious without preparation (to prevent crew being irradiated), highly mobile with long endurance, and carry enough supplies to allow logistics trains to be reformed behind them.

Spartan was to be built of relatively thin welded steel armor stiffened with support braces with priority given to extra room for supplies and the large volume of ammunition that was expected. This increased internal volume also helped with buoyancy. In order to get the high arc of fire required to effectively ‘lob’ shells over ridgelines and areas in which enemy forces may be hiding, the gun was positioned as high above the vehicle floor as possible to allow for a lower breech drop. To achieve this, the gun cradle was to be suspended from two beams arched across the roof.

The fighting compartment housed a five-man detachment consisting of the commander, two loaders, gunner and driver, and 210 rounds of ammunition. Charges, fuses, and other requirements were kept in sponsons to either side. Large rear watertight doors to the back could be opened to assist in loading shells, which were gravity fed to assist the loader in battle. Other than being airtight with an overpressure system to prevent gas biological and nuclear agents from entering the vehicle, the armor itself* would stop harmful gamma rays while a plastic spall liner would protect against fast neutrons. All the optical devices had polarizing filters to prevent blindness from nuclear flash.

*While the original authors quote the armor would be adequate, correspondence between the author and a nuclear physicist confirmed suspicions that such material would offer no protection against the level of gamma radiation likely to be received.

Automotive power was provided by a turbo-blown, supercharged 400bhp Foden FD12 compression ignition engine which could run on fuels ranging from Diesel, Avtur, Kerosene, and MT 80. Sufficient fuel was carried to allow for a 24-hour operational day and the power and speed allowed it to keep up with other MBTs at an average combat speed of 15 mph (24 km/h). A Merritt Brown gearbox and disc brakes were fitted for the final transmission. The entire powerpack could be extracted via the rear doors on a pull-out roller sheet due to the gun and seat etc. being mounted from the ceiling.

The suspension was via 12 road wheels in 6 pairs on either side via hydraulically adjusted torsion bars allowing the vehicle to lower itself to the ground to provide a stable firing platform.

Firepower

The gun was designed to replace the 25 pounder field gun and the 4.2 inch mortar in service. At a high angle, it was to engage targets between 1500 yards and 17,500 yards (1.4 km to 16 km) with a rate of fire of eight rounds a minute and new ammunition giving a marked performance upgrade over the 25 Pdr. The gun itself was a twelve-foot long (3.6 meter) monobloc non-autofrettaged barrel.

Autofrettage is a process by which the barrel is produced from a smaller caliber one by increasing the pressure on the inside of the barrel past its elastic limit. This enlarges the inner diameter of the barrel by pushing the inner layers of the barrel outwards, thus increasing the density as well. This gives a higher density barrel with better strength, lifetime, and safety. Made from a single forging of high-quality steel with a yield of 55 tons per square inch the gun was fitted with a fume extractor to assist with drawing fumes from the main compartment.

The gun was built to handle UK 105 mm HE and HESH bagged charges. However, an adaption existed to fit a replaceable liner and breach block that would allow it to use the US 155 mm rounds if required, this procedure taking about 2 hours. The new HE round was torpex based with a 60/30/10 mic fo RDX/TNT/AL mixture and an explosive filler of 6.6 lbs (3 kg) offering 250% more effective explosive volume over the older 25 pdr round. The horizontal sliding breech block was fitted with a semi-automatic gear for opening and closing the breach.

An automatic tube loading device with a tube magazine was incorporated for use when the British ammunition was fired. The ring-type cradle had parallel extension members at the rear to take anti-rotational slides for the block. The gun rammer was provided by compressed air in the engine compartment.

Sighting arrangements for the gun consisted of a conventional rocking bar sight and a long-necked dial sight. Laying for elevation was by means of a quadrant elevation bubble clinometer. A separate anti-tank periscope sight was mounted outside the cupola roof to avoid the effects of heat shimmer on the barrel.

Conclusion

The Spartan project certainly identified an area of light Self Propelled Artillery that was required for the MOD and the factors identified were already being used in several Russian developments despite there being no common communication between the developers. To add credence to this, a few years later, the F.V.433 Abbot began development which is remarkably similar in many ways to Spartan and may well have taken inspiration from the preceding project.

Sources

SPARTAN: Royal Military College of Science.
Discussions with Lucian Stan regarding radiation penetration

Specifications
Dimensions	6.22 x 3.1 x 2.82 m (20ft5in x 10ft2in x 9ft3in)
Armament	105 mm Howitzer, with 210 rounds and 300 charges
Time to action	60 seconds
Crew	6
Propulsion	Foden FD 12 multifuel 400 BHP at 2400 rpm
Speed	48 km/h (30 mph)
Range	645 km (400 mi)
Traverse	Power assisted
Elevation	From -5° to +75°
Gun Range	16 km (17,500 yards)
Total production	None built

United Kingdom (1956)
Heavy Tank Destroyer – Design only

Cerebos was a project designed by the 7th Tank Technical Officers (T.T.O.) Mechanical and Gunnery AFV design exercise held at the British Royal Armoured Corp (R.A.C.) School of Tank Technology (S.T.T.) in 1956. In the study, the designers were tasked with coming up with a heavy tank destroyer using guided anti-tank missiles as its primary offensive weapon. It had to be able to operate on the front lines of a European conflict, have relative immunity from Soviet guns at combat ranges, and a very high chance of scoring a direct hit and killing any Soviet vehicle of the day.

Background

The concept of a heavy and super-heavy missile vehicle had already been on the minds of British AFV designers for a few years during the early part of the Cold War. The Anti-Tank Guided Missile (A.T.G.M.) was a relatively new technology in an era when tank guns were still relying on ranging machine guns for calculating the distance to the target. The ability to effectively engage a tank at twice the effective range of such a gun and to effectively track and guide the missile to the target was highly desirable. This fact, combined with the huge leaps in armor penetration capabilities from shaped-charge (SC) technologies used in High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) type warheads, especially compared to ‘conventional’ anti-tank ammunition of the period, made many think the era of the conventional armored tank was over. This was simply because, using conventional armor technologies, no tank could hope to survive against HEAT warheads such as the French SS.10, Soviet AT-1 Snapper, and later the Mosquito or Swedish Bantam. In order to stop such weapons, steel armor would need to have been over 500 mm thick, which in turn would have led to impractical machines. One result of this technological shift away from conventional armor was a generation of very lightly armored main battle tanks like the German Leopard. Whilst this shift was recognised early in Western nations, despite projects like the British Conqueror and some American heavy tank/tank destroyer projects, it took longer to be recognised in the Soviet Union, at least in the eyes of the West. Tanks like the IS-3 and T-10 loomed large in the imagination and nightmares of Western planners along with some incorrect assessments of the armor of a new generation of Soviet medium tanks. This meant that new means of countering this Soviet armor were needed.

The debate over the end of the tank has been waged since almost the very beginning of the weapon. For each new anti-tank weapon, a new defense innovation was found and, conversely, for each new step-up in armor, a new weapon to defeat this armor was found. In this way, to a broad extent, the evolution of anti-tank weapons very much reflected the evolution of tank armor. Within this context, there are few evolutionary leaps that were as profound in tank terms as this first decade or so after the end of WW2. The A.T.G.M. had gotten to the point where it was closer to forcing the tank into obscurity than ever before and, were it not for the vast fleets of tanks in Soviet service that remained an active threat forcing NATO to maintain its own significant fleet of tanks, armored warfare may have taken a very different route.

In the meantime, all nations were still churning out regular tanks expected to fight other tanks and so, much like the Second World War, tank destroyers were still being developed and built with the sole aim of breaking up enemy tank formations at long range. For the British, the appearance of heavy Soviet armor and the prospect of large enemy armored formations posed a particular threat. Many of those vehicles were virtually immune to the UK’s best tank-guns then in service and in such large numbers that even if they could match Soviet armor with British firepower they could still be overwhelmed.

There was little the British could do to counter the enormous numerical advantage of the Soviet forces in Europe but there was something which could be done about the guns and this fed into the motivation behind the development of the Royal Ordnance L7 105 mm rifled gun and eventually the L1 120 mm rifled gun too. Despite some heavy Anti-Tank concepts in the UK, the 7th T.T.O. Course opted instead for an A.T.G.M.-based Anti-Tank platform over a gun-based solution. The weaponry for this option consisted of a version of the Malkara missile, and this, it was felt, would provide the offensive power required to counter the Soviet threat. It also provided the additional benefit that the avoidance of a turret allowed all available protection to be focussed on the hull instead and all for less weight than a conventionally armed and armored gun-tank.

Cerebos

This was the context and logic behind the Cerebos, a turretless guided-missile tank destroyer with heavy armor. It was intended to operate on the front lines, have enough protection to withstand strikes from enemy tanks using conventional guns, and ideally use the chassis of a vehicle already in service as a platform. It was desired to have a missile able to destroy the heaviest Soviet vehicles then known in service or considered to potentially enter service. An ideal rate of fire of four rounds per minute was requested, with a minimum of two rounds per minute, with two missiles ready to fire at any time.

Layout

The goal was to reuse, as far as possible, the hull of an existing vehicle and Cerebos did just that and was based around a heavily modified Centurion tank. This meant a high degree of commonality of parts between Cerebos and the standard battle tank of the British Army of the day, which would reduce the logistical burden of the vehicle. The modifications, though, were extensive. Instead of the sloped glacis of the Centurion, Cerebos used a steeply angled ‘pike’ type nose, similar in style to that on the Soviet IS-3 tank. The driver sat along the centreline of the tank with a forward observation window cut directly out of the armor. The commander sat directly behind him, and the loader sat even further back on a swivel chair that allowed him the freedom of movement to assemble the missiles.

The missile bin had to be as equally protected as the vehicle itself and yet maintain a potential 360° arc of fire. This was somewhat problematic, as adding a conventional missile rack on the top of the vehicle would add not only excessive weight but would also result in a large and conspicuous target that would be vulnerable to small arms fire, shell splinters, etc. It would also be heavy, requiring dedicated hydraulics just to operate. To overcome these issues, the designers had the missile bins located inside the hull of the vehicle in a vertical arrangement, with 5 additional missiles stowed vertically running alongside the left and right sides of the inner hull. On firing the missile, the silo roof would fold open in two triangular parts. The weapon was then fired and guided on to its target by the commander. Once the missile was away, a new one was selected and attached to what amounts to a ‘potter’s wheel’ type base. This base rotated 360 degrees in the missile chamber, with the four fins being added from a separate supply located in front of each missile. This might seem odd as an idea, but the fins were the part of the missile which increased their storage volume and this semi-assembly of the missile attaching the fins meant that a larger number of missiles could be stowed inside the tank.

Protection

Cerebos was based on the Centurion but it was better protected from enemy fire than the Centurion. Sporting heavy frontal armor with a glacis plate 120 mm thick angled back at 65° and a lower front plate 120 mm thick angled at 55°, the Cerebos was felt to be well-enough protected to be able to take any reasonable enemy fire which might be forthcoming from the Soviet tanks of the day. In more conventional UK armor terms, the sides were still quite weak though, with just 25 mm on the upper sides (at 8°) tapering to 20 mm (at 10°) on the lower hull sides. The roof and rear were 25 mm thick, just enough for protection from small arms fire and shell bursts. The belly plate, just 20 mm thick, was sufficient to provide some protection from landmines but the focus of armor was on the front, facing the enemy, making the best use of the weight allowance available for maximum effect.

Automotive

Power for Cerebos was provided by a 9-liter Jaguar 90° V8 petrol engine delivering 350 b.h.p. at 3,750 rpm connected via a Merritt Brown 6-speed (4 forward and 2 reverse) gearbox. Drive was delivered, just like the Centurion – to the rear sprockets. This engine was expected to permit the 21-ton (21.3 tonnes) Cerebos to achieve a top speed of 28 mph (45 km/h) and operate for a maximum range of 220 km at 14 mph (22.5 km/h).

Armament

The primary armament proposed for Cerebos was a Manual Command to Line-Of-Sight (M.C.L.O.S.) type anti-tank missile that looked somewhat like a slightly smaller and sleeker Malkara missile, measuring 5 ft. (1.5 m) long and 10 inches (254 mm) in diameter. Unlike the High Explosive Squash Head (H.E.S.H.) warhead on the Malkara, this 20 lb. (9 kg) warhead was a shaped charge High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) type. The total missile weight was expected to be 85 lb (38.5 kg) and these would be launched vertically from within the missile tube. Once assembled with its fins, it was ready for launching and this could be done whilst a missile was already underway as the targeting was being carried out by the commander with missile assembly taking place independently.

A pair of launchers and 12 missiles (two already assembled and ready to fire, with another ten stowed) could be carried. Although no performance data for these missiles was given, it can be estimated from the diameter of the warhead and the performance of contemporary missiles to achieve a penetration of approximately five times its diameter, which would equal about 750 mm of armor plate – more than sufficient to defeat any known Soviet tank in service at the time.

The maximum range for the missile was just as impressive as the anti-armor performance expected – far exceeding the range available from a conventional tank gun. Cerebos was to be able to engage targets at ranges of up to 6,000 yards (5.4 km), although the missiles did have a minimum safe distance as well – 500 yards (460 meters). With a flight-speed of 350 feet per second (107 m/s), the missiles had a potential maximum flight time of about 50 seconds. For ease of stowage, the missiles were kept without their fins. The gunner would have to assemble the bare missile, attach the fins individually by means of the snap-on fasteners and then load a missile into the missile bin. This whole process was estimated to take not more than 2 minutes per missile. This would mean (assuming two were already loaded) that up to 4 missiles could be fired in a 4-minute window.

Secondary armament for Cerebos was primarily for self-defense and consisted of a single Browning .30 caliber (7.62 mm) machine gun remotely operated from within the hull with a 360° degree arc of fire and provided with 4,250 rounds of ammunition. Six No.36 smoke dischargers were provided, with 3 per-side, and the crew was provided with grenades and small arms.

Conclusion

For its time and era, the wings being clipped on was nothing new and this type of missile-build-before-launch concept was also to be added into the FV4010 heavy missile vehicle, as the later fold out missiles and overall lighter materials were still some years away. Two flaws not raised in the original documentation but more observable with hindsight are the lack of a telescopic mast or periscope allowing firing from the reverse side of slopes and the poorly placed second cupola that had much of its view blocked by being located behind the first. Other issues are the commander acting as the missile gunner, guiding it to its target, placing undue stress, and preventing him from monitoring the battlefield. The Cerebos was no more than a design project and never built, however, many of the ideas and features later appeared on the Malkara launching FV4010.

Sources
Bovington Tank Museum Archives, STT section, Cerebos box

Cerebos Specifications
Dimensions (L-W-h)	21ft 5.5 inches x 9ft 10 inches x 8ft 4 inches (6.53 x 3.00 x 2.54 m)
Crew	3 (commander/gunner, driver, loader)
Propulsion	Jaguar 9 liter 90° V8, 350 bhp
Speed (road)	28 mph (45 km/h)
Ground Clearance	17 inches (0.43 m)
Track Center Distance	8 ft. 4 inches (2.54 m)
Length of Track on Ground	14 ft. 7 inches (4.45 m)
Normal ground pressure	8.4 psi (57.92 kPa)
L/C ratio	1.75
Vertical obstacle crossed	3ft 8 inches (1.12 m)
Gap crossed	7ft (2.13 m)
Armament	Manual Command to Line-Of-Sight (MCLOS) ATGM 0.5/12.7 mm HMG.
Maximum, Minimum Missile Range	6000 yards/5.4 km, 500 yards/457 meters
Missile Velocity	350 fps (107 m/s)
Ammunition	12 High Explosive Anti Tank Missiles
Armor	Front: 120 mm @ 65 degrees Sides: 25-20 mm Rear 25 mm Bottom 20 mm

United Kingdom (1985)
Light Tank – Partly Built

The RO2000 series of vehicles was a late Cold War attempt by the Royal Ordnance PLC to standardize the vehicle fleet of the British Army and for export to Middle Eastern countries. The central idea of the RO2000 was a common platform encompassing the engine, transmission, chassis and suspension, with just the rear combat module varying between vehicles. The vehicles were meant to be easy to manufacture, mechanically simple and cheap both due to their small size and due to parts commonality.
Of the four RO2000 vehicles, the most potent was the RO2004 light tank, armed with an adaptation of the still-potent L7 105 mm gun made famous by the Centurion.

This is the modular hull of the Vickers RO2000 AFV series of vehicles. (Source: Royal Ordnance/ Tank Museum)

RO2004 Light Tank

The Royal Ordnance RO2004 light tank was to be built on the RO2000 universal lightweight chassis and come fitted with a version the famous L7 105 mm gun firing standard NATO ammunition. While its basic armor is unknown, it was to be upgradeable with a new ‘dynamic armor’ that was in development. The 105 mm gun was to be a low recoil version on the L7 with a new distinct pepper pot-style muzzle break called the Improved Weapon System (IWS) which had been developed in 1989 by Royal Ordnance.
The new gun was conventionally rifled and made from Electroslag Refined Steel (ESR) with a fume extractor, thermal sleeve horizontal sliding breech mechanism, and distinctive pepper pot muzzle brake that reduced recoil forces by 25 percent. Royal Ordnance also offered an automatic muzzle reference system (MRS) that could be fitted to the gun to greatly improve the accuracy of the weapon system. RO also developed. alongside the IWS, a new 105 mm APFSDS (Armor Piercing Fin Stabilised Discarding Sabot) round that they claimed to have a penetration of 540 mm of Rolled Homogeneous Armor (RHA) at a range of 2,000 meters.
A high rate of fire was expected due to the use of a bustle-mounted autoloader coupled with a state of the art gun control and computerized Fire Control System (FCS). Passive Thermal Imaging (TI) and image intensifiers came as optional extras. The Royal Ordnance dynamic armor (not to be confused with the later Electrical Armor of the same name) was, in essence, a mix of a conventional laminated plate with Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) built into it, providing protection against kinetic and shaped charge attacks. On top of this would also be more conventional ERA blocks as a preliminary line of defense.
The crew of three consisted of the commander, gunner, and driver. The layout was somewhat atypical with the driver front left while the commander and gunner were situated adjacent to each other with the gunner in the normal loader’s location by UK standards. Vision was provided by a panoramic sight for the commander as well as 7 episcopes and an individual laser sighting system for the gunner. The driver had full day-night low light thermal vision (LLTV).
Power was to be provided by a Perkins TV8-640, 320 hp 8-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine coupled through a T320 automatic 6-speed epicyclic gearbox. The top speed was estimated at 55 km/h (34 mph).
The suspension consisted of transverse torsion bars, 5 per side. Each was connected to a pair of roadwheels, leading to a total of five pairs and 10 wheels per side. Two return rollers per side were also present. Later proposals by Royal Ordnance included hydraulic adjustable suspension.

The RO2004 Light Tank. This illustration was produced by Brian Gaydos, funded by our Patreon Campaign

Conclusion

A single turret of a RO2004 was built and displayed. The vehicle was advertised at many arms expositions and even proposed to the British Army but, like the rest of the series, did not receive any orders. The fate of the built turret is unknown. The Royal Ordnance PLC was bought by British Aerospace in 1987, currently known as BAE Systems.

Side drawing of the RO2004 light tank taken from a Royal Ordnance RO2000 series Technical Datasheet.

Specifications
Dimensions (L-W)	6.3 x 2.81 x 2.41 meters
Weight	21.5 tonnes
Crew	3 (Driver, Commander, Gunner)
Propulsion	Perkins TV8-640, 320 hp 8 cylinder turbocharged diesel with T320 automatic 6-speed epicyclic unit
Suspension	Transverse torsion bar, 5 per side, telescopic dampers 1,5
Speed	55 km/h
Armament	105mm Low Recoil Gun IWS 1x 7.62 mm Hughes chain gun
Total Production	None built

Sources

Royal Ordnance files relating to the RO2000 program in the Bovington Tank Museum archives
Royal Ordnance RO2000 series Technical Datasheets
Armoured trials and development unit, Bovington Camp, Report on the RO2000 series, 9 June 1986
Royal Ordnance RO2000 sales brochure
Royal Ordnance RO2000 press release

United Kingdom (1986)
SPG – 1 Built

The RO2000 series of light vehicles came about as a government evaluation into developing a new generation of vehicles known as Future Family of Light Armoured Vehicles (FFLAV). FFLAV began to progress swiftly after the 1990-1991 Gulf War, which had highlighted key areas of concern in the older vehicles used by the Army, notably the FV430 and CVRT series which were already three decades old. FFLAV was to streamline at least three key series of vehicles into one family; the FV430 series, the FV510 Warrior family, and the CVRT (Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance Tracked). This would have left an opening for up to 7000 replacement vehicles, leading to one of the largest modern defense contracts ever issued.

122 mm Vickers R02001 Artillery Self-propelled Gun prototype (Source: Royal Ordnance/ Tank Museum)

The RO2001 Self Propelled Howitzer

The Royal Ordnance RO2001 self-propelled howitzer was designed for the export market and was based on the UK’s RO2000 universal chassis. Had it been accepted for UK service, it was proposed to mount a L13A1 105 mm gun similar to that of the FV433 Abbot Self Propelled Gun or, alternatively, the Royal Ordnance L118 light 105 mm gun.
The export version for Egypt was meant to be armed with a 122 mm D30 howitzer which was manufactured in Egypt by Abu Zaabal Engineering Industries Company. It was based on the Russian designed howitzer. It had a computerized gunsight system for both direct and indirect fire modes.
Although the prototype was fitted with the 122 mm D30 howitzer, the vehicle hull and superstructure could be adapted to fit most 122 mm howitzers. The superstructure and gun mount enabled the gun to have a traverse of + 30 deg from the centreline: +70 deg elevation and -5 deg gun depression. There was enough storage space for 84 rounds for the main gun.
The hull was to be rolled steel with the driver to the front left and the other 4 crew including commander and loaders in the rear. Unlike the Abbot, the RO2001 did not have a fully rotating ‘turret’, with the rear superstructure being built up and designed to fit a variety of weapons or possible refits including the D30 122mm gun. Secondary protection was by means of a 7.62 mm machine gun as well as L8 grenade dischargers with VIRSS (Visual and Infrared Screening Smoke).
It was powered by a Perkins TV8- 640 8-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine but had a maximum horsepower of 320 hp. It had a maximum road speed of 55 km/h. Fuel tank capacity 454 liters. The transmission was an engine – gearbox coupling with a Twyflex centrifugal clutch. The T320 gearbox had self-changing gears. It was an automatic 6-speed epicyclic unit with manual hold controls. It had regenerative, disc brake steering. The main breaks were Lockheed disc brakes that were hydraulically operated. The suspension consisted of traverse torsion bars: 5 stations per side with telescopic dampers on the front and rear wheel stations. The track was cast steel link drive pin type with rubber bush inserts and rubber road pads.
The vehicle electrical system was a screen suppressed and waterproofed 24V electrical system. There were two 6TN batteries giving 100 amp-hour capacity for engine starting. An additional two 6TN batteries gave 100 amp-hour capacity for auxiliary systems.
The prototype RO2001 lightweight artillery self-propelled gun (SP122) fired over 300 rounds during trials in Egypt and covered 10,000 km. It was shipped to Britain so that it could be put on show at the British Army equipment exhibition arms fair in the summer of 1986. It stood on the Royal Ordnance stand next to the 120 mm mortar (RO 2003).

Front view of the 122mm Vickers RO2001 Artillery Self-propelled Gun (Source: Royal Ordnance/ Tank Museum)

The RO2001 Self-Propelled Gun (SPG). This illustration was produced by Brian Gaydos, funded by our Patreon Campaign

---

Conclusion

Only one vehicle was built and was sent to Egypt, where it was fitted with a D30 howitzer made by Abu Zaabal Engineering Industries with sighting systems for both direct and indirect fire. However, no advanced fire control was attached to this version. The competition was from a US platform but neither was accepted for service. Unfortunately, like so many good ideas put forward, political bickering and incompetence saw interest wain and the UK once again began the ongoing waste of money that became synonymous with its research and development process.

Artist’s impression of the 122 mm Vickers RO2001 Artillery Self-propelled Gun. (Source: Royal Ordnance/ Tank Museum)

Specifications
Dimensions (L-W-H)	6.2 x 2.81 x 2.70 m (excluding gun) 20 ft 4 in x 9 ft 2 in x 8 ft 10 in
Armament	105 mm or 122 mm Howitzer 7.62 mm or 12.7 mm Machine-Gun
Traverse	30° left and right
Elevation	+70°
Depression	-5°
Crew	5 (Commander, Gunner, Driver, 2 x Loaders)
Optics	One vision periscope, 360° panoramic sight, day/night driving optional
Weight	20 tonnes
Ground clearance	0.46 m
Maximum road speed	55 km/h (34 mph)
Maximum gradient	30°
Maximum trench width	2.2 meters
Maximum vertical obstacle	0.75 meters
Ground pressure	0.5 kg/cm
Propulsion	Perkins TV8-640, 320 hp 8 cylinder turbocharged diesel with T320 automatic 6-speed epicyclic unit
Main brakes	Lockheed disc brakes
Fuel capacity	454 liters
Steering	Regenerative, disc brake steering
Suspension	Transverse torsion bar, 5 per side, telescopic dampers 1,5
Track	Cast steel link dry pin type
Radio	Clansman or customer-specific
Total Production	One built

Side view of the 122mm Vickers R02001 Artillery Self-propelled Gun (Source: Royal Ordnance/ Tank Museum)

Sources

Royal Ordnance files relating to the RO2000 program in the Bovington Tank Museum archives
Royal Ordnance RO2000 series Technical Datasheets
Armoured trials and development unit, Bovington Camp, Report on the RO2000 series, 9 June 1986
Royal Ordnance RO2000 sales brochure
Royal Ordnance RO2000 press release

Tanks Encyclopedia Magazine, #2

The second issue of the Tank Encyclopedia magazine covers the fascinating history of armored fighting vehicles from their beginnings before the First World War up to this day! This issue covers vehicles such as the awe-inspiring rocket-firing German Sturmtiger, the Soviet SMK Heavy Tank, the construction of a replica Italian Fiat 2000 heavy tank and many more. It also contains a modeling section and a feature article from our friends at Plane Encyclopedia cover the Arado Ar 233 amphibious transport plane! All the articles are well researched by our excellent team of writers and are accompanied by beautiful illustrations and period photos. If you love tanks, this is the magazine for you!
Buy this magazine on Payhip!

---