30mm L21A2 Rarden
Notes:
The Rarden (Royal Armament, Research and Development establishment and
Enfield) is fitted to the British FV-510 Warrior IFV, FV-107 Scimitar
reconnaissance vehicle, Sabre reconnaissance vehicle, and FV-721 Fox armored
car. It was designed in the early
1960s to defeat known and projected armored personnel carriers of the time.
Requirements at the time included penetration, accuracy, low weight, and
ease of operation. This partially
why the ROF was kept so low (90 rounds per minute); another reason was to
prevent wasteful ammunition usage. The low rate of fire is primarily because
while the Rarden is a dual-feed weapon, it is hand-fed by 3-round clips into
either side of the weapon; the 90-round per minute rate of fire is the maximum
practical rate of fire by a well-trained crew.
The lack of a belt feed also allows the dimensions of the gun to be kept
smaller, and allows it to be used in turrets and on vehicles with limited space.
The low rate of fire also contributes to a low rate of wear and tear, and
reduces maintenance. The Rarden has the advantage of having no firing gasses
that escape into the vehicle from a vehicular mount. Operation is by long
recoil, but the barrel is the primary part that recoils instead of the gun
mechanism itself. The recoil
mechanism means that the Rarden does not need to be externally-powered and can
remain in operation even if the vehicle’s power is put out. Spent casings and
dud rounds are ejected forwards out of the turret.
Weapon |
Ammunition |
Crew |
Set Up Time |
Weight |
Price |
L21A2 Rarden |
30mm
Rarden or KCB |
1 |
NA |
139.8 kg |
$20015 |
Weapon |
ROF |
Magazine |
Range |
Round |
Damage |
Penetration |
L21A2 Rarden |
3 |
100B |
520 |
Rarden APDS |
7 |
10/9/7/5 |
|
3 |
100B |
520 |
Rarden APFSDS |
7 |
14/12/10/7 |
|
3 |
100B |
435 |
Rarden APSE |
7 |
7/7/6/4 |
|
3 |
100B |
390 |
Rarden HE |
C2 B10 |
-3C |
|
3 |
100B |
390 |
KCB HEI |
C2 B10 |
-3C |
|
3 |
100B |
435 |
KCB SAPHEI |
C2 B10 |
7/7/6/4 |