The Machinery and Chemical Industry Corporation (MCIC) is developing a “76 / 62mm Sea Cannon” for existing ships for the Turkish Naval Forces.
According to the news of Abdullah Karakuş from Milliyet newspaper dated 11 July 2020, the Machinery and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKEK) is developing a “naval cannon” for ships.
76/62 mm Naval Gun Development Project: “While the overseas supply period of the weapon system is minimum 24 months, the factory acceptance tests of the prototype to be produced are planned to be launched with indigenous and national facilities within 12 months. After the institution began the efforts for making the system indigenous , the foreign supplier company reduced the unit price very much. This weapon system will be used in medium and low tonnage ships ib the Turkish Navy inventory. “
Technical specifications of the Indigenous 76/62 Sea Cannon
- Weapon system range is 16 km.
- Barrel diameter is 76 mm and its length is 4700 mm.
- Barrel has a water cooling system.
- Maximum rate of fire is 80 round/min.
- The weapon system weighs 7500 kg without ammunition and 8500 kg with ammunition.
- The weapon system has a rotary magazine with a capacity of 70 ammunition.
- The weapon system is effective against air, land and sea targets.
Since the ship cannons can shoot fast at long range, their development differs from the standard howitzer and guns. Therefore, the development and production of a ship is a challenging process. The Italian OTO Melara (under the Leonardo Group) 76 mm ship gun is used in the inventory of the Turkish Naval Forces. The OTO Melara 76 mm cannon is used in Gabya-class frigates, Ada-class corvettes and Rüzgar, Doğan, Yıldız and Kılıç-class assault boats in the Turkish Naval Forces inventory. There are 3 different versions of the 76 mm cannon system manufactured by OTO Melara, namely Compact, Super Rapid and Strales Systems. Ships in the Turkish Navy’s inventory are mostly equipped with the Compact model The Super Rapid model is used in the newly produced ships. Turkish Navy stands out as one of the navies using 76 mm gun at most. With the development of this indigenous gun, a significant amount of resources will remain in the country.
