Denel Land Systems (DLS) says it has strong interest from a foreign customer in its T5-52 self-propelled howitzer.
This is according to Reenen Teubes, General Manager: Combat Systems at Denel Land Systems. He said the company was “really excited” about the potential sale.
Denel Land Systems officially launched its T5-52 truck-mounted self-propelled artillery system at the Africa Aerospace and Defence 2018 exhibition, although the system had been under development for a number of years before.
Pakistan has expressed interest in the T5, with Denel Land Systems in 2016 promoting the self-propelled howitzer at the IDEAS defence show in Karachi in response to Pakistan Army requirements. Pakistan’s interest in the T5-52 came after India in mid-2016 approved the roughly $750 million purchase of 145 M-777 howitzers from BAE Systems in the United States. Although Pakistan has in the last decade bought 115 M109A5s from the United States, it is on the lookout for additional artillery.
In 2013, South Africa sold six G5 towed 155 mm guns to the United Arab Emirates from South African Army stocks. These were modernised before delivery. The South African Army was due to take six T5-52s from Denel as replacements, but an agreement has not yet been reached. Teubes said Denel still hopes to supply the T5-52s to the South African National Defence Force.
The T5-52 is a 155 mm, 52 calibre, artillery piece mounted on a Tatra 8×8 T815-7 truck, which has a range of 600 km and speed of 85 km/h. The combat mass of the system is less than 30 tons. Denel Land Systems brochures say that the indirect fire flexibility of the system ensures that it can be employed in the traditional gun, howitzer and mortar roles.
The projectiles are the extended range type and when using base bleed projectiles, the weapon has a range of 43.4 km. The range when firing the Velocity enhanced Long range Artillery Projectile (V-LAP) is 57 km at sea level. The gun can also fire other NATO standard ammunition types.
The system carries 24 projectiles and 24 full charges. A crew of five is needed to bring the gun into or out of action within 50 seconds. In the event that the power unit of the hydraulic system fails, another T5-52 can be used as a back-up system, enabling the crew to bring the T5-52 into and out of action.
The Command and Control System comprises automatic laying, inertial navigation, telecommunication, muzzle velocity radar and gun management systems. These are used to navigate and lay the gun for indirect fire under all weather conditions. A telescopic sight gives a direct fire range of up to 3 000 metres.
