The RCH 155 is a 155mm self-propelled howitzer which was designed and developed by the German company KMW (Krauss-Maffei Wegmann) based on the chassis of the Boxer 8x8 armored vehicle. Developed and refined from joint operations, the complete autonomy of the overall artillery system in command, navigation and fire control, as well as its system-inherent stability, open up entirely new mission options (such as firing on moving targets, encampment defense, etc.).
Country users: Germany, Ukraine, United Kingdom
Technical Data
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Armament
The design of the RCH 155 is very unique with the crew compartment at the front of the hull and the fully automatic turret mounted at the rear of the hull. The vehicle has a crew of two including a driver who is also the gunner operator and the commander. The driver is seated at the front right side of the hull. The RCH 155 hull offers a higher level of ballistic and mine protection. It is fitted with ballistic protection modules belonging to the AMAP (Advanced Modular Armor Protection) product family made by IBD Deisenroth (nowadays Rheinmetall Protection Systems) and a mine protection kit made by GEKE Schutztechnik. The ballistic protection consists of a mix of spaced high hardness steel armor and composite ceramic add-on armor modules, allowing the Boxer drive module to reach STANAG 4569 Level 4 ballistic protection against the firing of small arms 14.5x114 AP (Armor Piercing) caliber fired from 200 m. Citing ARTEC, the producer of the Boxer vehicle, the front of the hull can withstand the Russian 30x165 mm armor-piercing rounds. The vehicle is also fitted with multi-layered floor plates capable of withstanding 10 kg of TNT detonating under the wheels or the hull. The turret is made of lightweight aluminum armor and provides protection against the firing of small arms of 7.62mm calibers and artillery shell splinters.
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Design and protection
The design of the RCH 155 is very unique with the crew compartment at the front of the hull and the fully automatic turret mounted at the rear of the hull. The vehicle has a crew of two including a driver who is also the gunner operator and the commander. The driver is seated at the front right side of the hull. The RCH 155 hull offers a higher level of ballistic and mine protection. It is fitted with ballistic protection modules belonging to the AMAP (Advanced Modular Armor Protection) product family made by IBD Deisenroth (nowadays Rheinmetall Protection Systems) and a mine protection kit made by GEKE Schutztechnik. The ballistic protection consists of a mix of spaced high hardness steel armor and composite ceramic add-on armor modules, allowing the Boxer drive module to reach STANAG 4569 Level 4 ballistic protection against the firing of small arms 14.5x114 AP (Armor Piercing) caliber fired from 200 m. Citing ARTEC, the producer of the Boxer vehicle, the front of the hull can withstand the Russian 30x165 mm armor-piercing rounds. The vehicle is also fitted with multi-layered floor plates capable of withstanding 10 kg of TNT detonating under the wheels or the hull. The turret is made of lightweight aluminum armor and provides protection against the firing of small arms of 7.62mm calibers and artillery shell splinters.
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Mobility
The RCH 155 is based on the 8x8 wheeled chassis of the Boxer multi-role armored vehicle offering a high level of mobility on the road and off-road conditions. The vehicle is powered by an MTU V8 19TE20/21 developing 816 hp coupled to an automatic transmission. It can reach a maximum road speed of 100 km/h with a maximum cruising range of 700 km. The vehicle can negotiate a gradient of 60% and drive on 30% side slopes. It can cross a trench of 2 m wide and climb a vertical obstacle of 0.8 m. Thanks to skid steering, the turning radius of the RCH 155 is just 7.5 m and it has 0.5 m of ground clearance.
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Combat Equipment
The Artillery Gun Module of the RCH 155 is unmanned and provides automated navigation and fire control, and features fully automated gun laying, projectile, and charge loading. These capabilities deliver a unique 360° efficiency range across all elevations and up to six modular charges without the necessity to use support during firing. This leads to a reduced crew of 2 (driver/operator, commander). On the other hand, RCH 155 is also able to perform quick “Shoot and Scoot” which provides a major advantage in terms of rapid relocation during operation. From the road position, the RCH 155 can be ready to fire the first round in less than 20 seconds, fires up to 9 rounds in one minute, and go out of action in less than 10 seconds which prevents counter-battery fire. The high rate of fire allows the RCH 155 to conduct multiple rounds simultaneously impact (MRSI) firings with up to five rounds – the time frame between the impact of the first and the last projectile on the target is claimed to be just two seconds. Standard equipment of the RCH 155 includes a fully automatic electrical gun laying system, a computerized fire control system with integrated ballistics calculation and radio data transmission connection to an artillery control system, and a high-precision navigation system, with or without GPS support. It is also equipped with air conditioning, an NBC (Nuclear, Bacteriologic and Chemical) protection system, and fire extinguishing in the engine compartment.
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