Английская Википедия:Bofors/Nexter Bonus

Содержание

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Infobox weapon The BONUS (Bofors Nutating Shell) or ACED (Anti-Char à Effet Dirigé) is a 155 mm artillery cluster round co-developed and manufactured by Bofors of Sweden and Nexter of France. It was designed to fulfill a long range, indirect fire, top attack rquirement against armoured fighting vehicles.

The BONUS base bleed carrier shell contains two submunitions, which descend over the battlefield on winglets and attack targets with explosively formed penetrator warheads.

History

The programme was launched in early 1985 as a project study for the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, with development completion initially expected by 1989 and production by 1990. In 1990, however, development completion was said to have slipped to 1992, the programme suffering delays. In June 1992, a military cooperation protocol was signed between Sweden and France. This partnership took concrete form on March 7 1993 in Stockholm, with the conclusion of a special agreement on the development and production of an "intelligent" munition: the BONUS OBG artillery shell. The French Defense Minister, Pierre Joxe, stated the agreement would "undoubtedly make it possible to combine Swedish and French technologies, which are very advanced in this field". His Swedish counterpart, Anders Björck, meanwhile, emphasized the "historic" nature of this cooperation with France, "which is undoubtedly the most technologically advanced of Sweden's possible partners".

The BONUS was to be a smart anti-tank weapon with a range of over 25 km, which releases two submunitions at an altitude of 1,000 meters above the theater of operations, with terminal and precise target guidance. First delivery was scheduled for 1995 at the time of the cooperation agreement but ultimately, the BONUS only entered production 5 years later in 1998 and then, French and Swedish service in 2000.

Design

Schematic of the 155 BONUS round

Schematic of the 155 BONUS round

155 BONUS is a 155 mm NATO artillery round that consists of a Шаблон:Convert heavy artillery projectile containing two autonomous, sensor-fused, fire-and-forget submunitions.

After the submunition is released it opens two winglets. While descending, the submunition rotates, scanning the area below with multi-frequency infrared sensors and LiDAR that compares the detected vehicles with a programmable target database. The submunitions each contain a high-penetration EFP warhead for use against even heavy armoured fighting vehicles like main battle tanks.

When fired from a 52-caliber barrel, a BONUS shell can travel up to Шаблон:Cvt.

Operation

Файл:Smart155 overview.svg

Phase	Picture	Description
1	An artillery piece fires a BONUS round	After setting range and target profile(s), the BONUS round is fired from a standard rifled 155mm artillery tube.
2	The round flies through the air	The round flies on a parabolic arc, with a range of up to Шаблон:Convert
3	The ejector pulls the submunitions clear of the shell	A timer fuse ignites a small ejector rocket in the nose, which drags the two submunitions out of the shell casing over the target area.
4	The submunitions fall free	Once clear of the shell, the submunitions fall toward the target. The shell and the nose assembly fall away.
5	The submunitions on winglets	The submunitions deploy winglets, and independently corkscrew down over the subject area with 900 rpm, scanning for targets.
6	A submunition explodes above a tank	Once a submunition detects a target vehicle beneath it, it detonates its explosive payload, creating an explosively formed projectile which strikes the target vehicle's weak top armour. The high-velocity impactor penetrates the hull and kills or wounds the crew.

Competing systems

BONUS is very similar to the German SMArt 155 system; SMArt 155 descends on a parachute rather than a system of winglets, and uses a millimeter radar as altimeter instead of LIDAR.

The United States developed the similar M898 SADARM system (which also descended on a ballute to attack the top surfaces of armoured vehicles), but this was discontinued in favour of the GPS guided M982 Excalibur round. US artillery largely deploys the M712 Copperhead laser-guided round for the anti-tank role.

Operators

• Шаблон:Flagicon French Army - since 2000
• Шаблон:Flagicon Swedish Army - since 2000
• Шаблон:Flagicon Finnish Army - since 2014
• Шаблон:Flagicon US Army - being procured
• Шаблон:Flagicon Norwegian Army
• Шаблон:Flagicon Saudi Arabian National Guard, since 2012 (1,000 shells ordered in 2011)
• Шаблон:Flagicon Ukrainian Ground Forces - since 2022
• Шаблон:Flagicon British Army - since 2023 - Adopted with Archer self propelled artillery system per UK MoD FOI answer in December 2023.

Operational history

The BONUS shell was first used in operations on December 3, 2018 by the French Wagram artillery detachment in Iraq, as part of French operations against the Islamic State. Four shells destroyed a convoy of eight Islamic State vehicles.

In the context of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, BONUS rounds were supplied by France (and potentially Sweden and Norway) to the latter. Although various analysts and web users speculated a BONUS shell had struck a Russian Pantsir-S1 system on July 5, 2022, it turned out to be a SMArt 155 strike. However, in January 2023, French-produced BONUS shells were visually confirmed to be in Ukrainian service.

See also

• Krasnopol
• Strix mortar round
• XM395 Precision Guided Mortar Munition

External links

• Bofors 155 BONUS - Video
• BAE systems
• Defencetalk.com showing the carrier casing