The AMX-30 AuF1 is a French self-propelled gun vehicle currently in use by the armies of France and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. It replaced the former

Mk F3 155mm The 155 mm self-propelled gun Mk F3, or the Canon de 155 mm Mle F3 Automoteur (Cn-155-F3-Am), was developed in the early 1950s by the French Army to replace their American M41 Gorilla 155mm self-propelled guns. The Mk F3 is the smallest ...

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...

service. The AuF1 primary advance is that it incorporates full armor and nuclear-biological-chemical (

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

) protection for its crew of four, while the former Mk F3 155mm offered no protection and could carry only two of its four crew members. The AuF1 saw combat with the Iraqi Army in the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...

History

Though the French

would remain in production through the 1980s, by the early 1970s the French Army realized there was an urgent need for its replacement. The Mk. 3 155mm lacked a traversable turret and nuclear-biological-chemical (NBC) protection for its crew, and could carry only two of the four crew members needed to operate it (the remaining two having to be transported in support vehicles). Development of the AuF1 began in the late 1960s under the trade name of 155 GCT (155 mm Grande Cadence de Tir; high rate of fire) and the first production version, known as the AuF1, was introduced during the 1980s. About 400 have been produced, with 70 having been upgraded to the AUF2 variant.

AuF1

The CN 155 AuF1 (Canon de 155 Automoteur Modèle F1, meaning "155 mm self-propelled gun model F1") is based on the

AMX-30 The AMX-30 is a main battle tank designed by Ateliers de construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux (AMX, then GIAT) and first delivered to the French Army in August 1966. The first five tanks were issued to the 501st ''Régiment de Chars de Combat'' ...

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...

(MBT) chassis and equipped with a NATO-standard 155mm 39-caliber (L/39) gun with a bustle-mounted autoloader, giving a rate of fire of 8 rounds per minute. It is also equipped with a roof-mounted

12.7mm This is a list of firearm cartridge (weaponry), cartridges which have bullets in the to caliber range. *''Length'' refers to the cartridge casing (ammunition), case length. *''OAL'' refers to the overall length of the cartridge. *''Bullet'' ref ...

anti-aircraft gun. The AUF1 has an effective range of 23,000 meters firing conventional rounds and 28,000 meters using

Rocket Assisted Projectile A rocket-assisted projectile (RAP) is a cannon, howitzer, mortar, or recoilless rifle round incorporating a rocket motor for independent propulsion. This gives the projectile greater speed and range than a non-assisted ballistic shell, which is ...

s (RAPs). The first production AMX-30 AuF1s were delivered exclusively to the

Saudi Arabian Army Royal Saudi Land Forces ( ar, القُوَّاتُ البَرِّيَّةُ المَلَكِيَّة السُّعُودِيَّة, Al-Quwwat al-Bariyah al-Malakiyah as-Su'udiyah) is the land warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of Saudi Ara ...

, while the French Army received their first deliveries in 1980, deploying the AMX-30 AuF1 in regiments of 18 guns each. In addition, the Iraqi Army received a number of AMX-30 AuF1 variants in 1980, which they employed during the

Variants and upgrades

* AuF1 "experimental": pre-production model tested by the French field corps in 1979. They can be recognized by the lack of louver on the right front part of the turret. One of the six was also fitted with a bore evacuator. The six were later upgraded to the H standard. * AuF1 H: this designation appeared when the AuF1 T was introduced in order to distinguish the two models. The AuF1 H is fitted with a Citroën AZ 5.4 hp auxiliary power unit (APU) mounted under armor. * AuF1 T: also known as CTI (Conduite de Tir Inertielle; inertial fire control system), it is fitted with an inertial navigation system linked to the main gun fire control system. The Citroën AZ APU is replaced by a Gévaudan micro-gas turbine, the latter required a more curved glacis plate. * AuF1 TM: also known as T-MODEX (MODule EXpérimental; "experimental module") 24 were made and were used to test the implementation of the ATLAS system. The AuF1 TM were only used by the 40th artillery regiment. * AuF1 TA: TA stands for Tourelle ATLAS (ATLAS turret), they were built on AMX-30B2 chassis (which featured stronger torsion bar) using the more powerful Renault-Mack E9 diesel engine. As this new engine was taller, a new 12 cm turret ring was fitted in order to raise up the turret. Unlike the previous variants, the AuF1 TM lacks of APU and uses buffer batteries. * AU F2: proposed upgrade from the 1990s. Increased range (40 km) and rate of fire (10 rnds/min) is accomplished by having a longer L/52 gun as well as an improved autoloader using modular artillery propelling charges.

Operational history

A battery of 8 AuF1s from the French Army's was deployed in support of the

Rapid Reaction Force A rapid reaction force is a military or police unit designed to respond in very short time frames to emergencies. When used in reference to police forces such as SWAT teams, the time frame is minutes, while in military applications, such as with t ...

on Mount Igman during the

1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina Operation Deliberate Force was a sustained air campaign conducted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in concert with the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) ground operations, to undermine the military capability of the ...

. The battery provided rapid counter-battery fire against Serb artillery units during the

siege of Sarajevo The Siege of Sarajevo ( sh, Opsada Sarajeva) was a prolonged blockade of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian War. After it was initially besieged by the forces of the Yugoslav People's Army, the city was then be ...

, the long range of its guns allowing it to dominate the surrounding terrain.

Operators

Current operators

* – 273 units, 32 in active service in 2020. * – 18 units * – 63 units

Former operators

* – 86 received between 1983–1985, kept in storage.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gct 155mm 155 mm artillery Post–Cold War artillery of France Tracked self-propelled howitzers Military vehicles introduced in the 1970s