Edinburgh 05 December 2017 16:45
- Leonardo’s Linaps system provides a significant boost to an artillery platform’s accuracy at an affordable cost, making it an attractive option for new and legacy platforms around the world
- More precise artillery fire means that collateral damage is reduced and allied troops are at less risk of taking ‘friendly fire’
- Designed and manufactured in the UK, Linaps is readily exportable. Current users include the UK, Canada, New Zealand, UAE, Oman, South Africa, Thailand and Malaysia
Leonardo has announced sales this year of over 150 units of its ‘Linaps’ artillery pointing system and over 100 FIN 3120 Inertial Navigation Units (INU), worth together more than 50M Euros, signalling a sustained level of interest in the company’s artillery airming systems. Linaps, which can be adapted to fit any existing artillery, mortar or MLRS platform provides highly-accurate weapon management and navigation, without reliance on GPS. The system is being seen by customers worldwide as a cost-effective way to significantly enhance the capabilities of both modern and legacy systems.
Linaps provides an artillery platform with a sophisticated fire-control capability, allowing forces to fire both indirect or direct with a very high level of accuracy. This precision reduces the potential for collateral damage and significantly limits the risk of friendly fire. Every new Linaps contains a FIN3120 Inertial Navigation Unit (INU), a gyro-based system which precisely measures the gun platform’s location, azimuth and elevation. The FIN3120 system is also available separately for customers who want to add the sensor element of the system to a platform that already has other elements of a fire control system built-in, such as a man-machine interface.
Linaps has been in service for a number of years with the British Army, Canada, New Zealand, UAE, Oman, South Africa, Thailand and Malaysia. Linaps was the first digital system to be deployed into Iraq and Afghanistan on the UK L118 Light Gun and the Canadian M777. Platforms carrying Linaps include BAE Systems’ 155mm M777 lightweight howitzer, M109 and 105mm L118/L119 light guns, Denel Land Systems’ G5/G6 155mm towed artillery systems.
Linaps is a battle-proven system. It can be designed to be fitted to any platform, avoiding the need for extensive hardware modifications to an existing platform.