Defence Business: Why the Swiss are SMArt | ADM Mar 07

1 March 2007

By Katherine Ziesing

After years of research by Swiss procurement agency Armasuisse, testing and production both locally and foreign, Switzerland has a significant pool of SMArt 155 shells to its name.

With Land 17 and JP2085 swiftly approaching, do they have a role to play in Australia as well?

During the mid 1990s Armasuisse (the Swiss defence procurement agency) evaluated and verified all available products in their search for a new 155mm shell.

Five years of verification and research saw Armasuisse select the SMArt 155 because of its good overall performance - particularly in severe and urban terrain - excellent reliability and outstanding warhead performance.

With the approval of the armament program in 2001 the Swiss parliament permitted the acquisition of the German ammunition SMArt 155.

The contract partner of Armasuisse is the German Gesellschaft für Intelligente Wirksysteme mbH (GIWS) in Nuremberg. Swiss industry participation in this acquisition program is approximately 30 per cent of the total program.

Delivery of the 2000 rounds took place between 2004 and 2006.

With the completion of this acquisition the ammunition mix of the Swiss Artillery is state of the art, to fulfil the requirements of the battlefields of the future.

The smart ammunition is allocated to the units on an as-needed basis, determined by the forward observers.

There is no predefined split to various units: the projectiles will remain in a pool to be assigned on a needs basis.

In an engagement, the fire planning centre must decide a flexible allocation based on the assessment of the tactical situation.

Of particular importance is the capability of only a few rounds of smart ammunition to hit and kill important point targets with almost no collateral damage, cited Armasuisse.

Each SMART 155 munition is composed of two sensor fused submunitions designed for automatic target acquisition and engagement by an Explosively Forged Penetrator (EFP).

When the submunitions are expelled form the shell case their warheads are armed and they descend by parachute.

Each weapon scans a specific sector in a spiral pattern as it auto-rotates under the parachute, scanning the area underneath it with IR and mm radar or millimetre wave radiometer sensor.

Once positive indication of a target is provided by both sensors, an aim point is calculated and the EFP is activated, attacking the target from above.

According to the manufacturer, the SMArt 155's fusion of signals from IR sensors, radiometers and active radars spans a broad range of wavelengths and performs well in adverse conditions such as fog, smoke or precipitation; conditions that impede the performance of single sensors or single wavelength suites of sensors.

The 47 kg Smart 155 round is designed for 155mm guns including M-109/39 and M109/47 and PzH-2000/52 and Paladin self propelled artillery with a range of 22.5km to 27.5 km.

The Smart Submunitions are also applicable for MLRS rockets and aerial dispensers, as well as sensor fused ground mines activated by IR, Millimetre Wave (mmw) Radar or acoustic triggering.

SMArt is already being fielded with the German and Greek armies.

The UAE has also tested the munition for use in their defence forces given its performance in desert terrain.

In a recent test, SMArt ammunition was fired from a UAE G6 self-propelled howitzer and scored kills of 67 per cent of the armoured targets.

Test results also show that the SMArt 155 is capable of distinguishing a hot target from a cold background as well as a cold target from a hot background.

This functionality is particularly important in desert climates with "crossover" times of day that can impact thermal imaging performance.

With Australia looking for its own replacement 155mm guns in the not so distant future under Land 17 and artillery under JP2085, what will we be firing?

GIWS demonstrated the SMArt 155 family in June of 2006 to defence officials from UAE, Germany, Switzerland, Peru, India and Australia.

Two of the three countries have adopted the technology already while others, like Australia, are still looking into the matter.

The modular nature of the munition also gives GIWS the scope for more research and development of individual components against different target types.

As reported in our October edition, GIWS is investing in further warhead developments to enable engagements of hard, semi-hard and material targets along with sensor enhanced suite performance in all combat environments.

Given the sensor to shooter capabilities of the SMArt 155 munitions and aims of the Hardened Networked Army, GIWS is a strong contender for both projects.