Design and Development
The baseline version of the Bofors 57 mm (2.2 in) L70 gun was the Mark 1, first introduced into service with the Spica-class fast attack craft (FAC) of Swedish Navy in 1966, it has a rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute and a 40-round magazine in the gun turret with a further 128 rounds stowed inside. With minor modifications, the Mark 1 guns could use ammunitions developed for the Mark 2 gun.
The Mark 2 was designed in 1981 but introduced into service with the Stockholm-class corvette—HMS Stockholm (K11) in 1985 (sister ship HMS Malmö (K12) was built in 1984 but armed with the older Mk 1, subsequently retrofitted with the Mk 2 in 2009), the rate of fire was slightly increased to 220 rounds per minute. Also, it featured a new light weight gun turret with a new gun barrel that was forged from monobloc steel (this eliminated the need to use a water jacket for gun barrel cooling during firing) and a new servo drive/servomechanism system (for faster reaction time and better gun aiming and control). According to Bofors, the new servo system allowed the Mk 2 to be both accurate and agile enough for use against sea skimming anti-ship missiles and that it could put more explosives into a surface target within a thirty second window than any naval gun with a calibre smaller than 100 mm (3.9 in).
The latest development is the Mark 3, which was designed in 1995 but introduced into service with the Visby-class corvette—fitted on HMS Visby (K31) in 2000. This new design retained the Mark 2 gun turret, rate of fire and ammunition capacity and has another 1,000 rounds stowed in the standby rack beneath deck. A small radome has been added above the gun barrel and is used for measuring the muzzle velocity of the departing projectiles for fire-control purposes, usually but not necessarily with the new Bofors 57 mm 3P all-target programmable ammunition. Also, a new optional low radar profile (also known as low radar cross-section, or RCS) stealth mounting was developed, this allows the gun to be hidden from radar and plain sight when not in use.
In American service, the United States Navy has designated the Mark 3 as the Mark 110 Mod 0 57mm gun. According to a BAE press release dated 1 August 2005, the Mark 110 would be manufactured at the BAE Systems facility in Louisville, Kentucky.
Read more about this topic: Bofors 57 Mm Gun
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