The MKE 120 mm gun is a Turkish 120 mm 55 caliber smoothbore gun based on the CN08 120 mm gun produced by the Turkish company Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation, used on the Turkish Altay tank.[1] The 120-millimeter (4.7 in) gun has a length of 6.6 meters (22 ft). The gun can fire ammunition with high muzzle velocity, and is made of chrome-plated "special steel".[1]

MKE 120 mm L/55
TypeSmoothbore tank gun
Place of originTurkey
Production history
DesignerHyundai WIA
Otokar
Designed2016
ManufacturerMechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation
Specifications
MassGun barrel: 1,324 kg (2,919 lb)[1]
Gun mount: 3,103 kg (6,841 lb)
Length6.6 m (22 ft)[1]
Barrel length55 calibers

Caliber120×570mm
Rate of fire6 rds/min
Effective firing rangeAPFSDS-T: 3,000 meters (3,300 yd)
TANOK: 6,000 meters (6,600 yd)

Background

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The MKE 120 mm gun was produced by transferring CN08 120 mm gun production technology from Hyundai WIA in South Korea through the Altay tank development project from 2008 to 2015.[2][3][4][5] MKE modified the design per Altay requirements and produce the gun under license.[5]

The design of the tank gun is the same as CN08, but there are two differences: unlike CN08, thermal sleeve is equipped with static muzzle reference system (SMRS), and Altay's turret does not have breech opening motor and automatic feeding magazine system for autoloader mechanism, so ammunition can only be loaded manually by tank crew and can fire up to 6 rounds a minute.

Ammunition

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The gun can fire various types of tank ammunitions including MKE made APFSDS-T, TPCSDS-T Training and High Pressure.[6] The gun is also able to fire Roketsan made TANOK gun-launched 120 mm laser guided anti-tank missile with range of 1-6 km.[7] The tank gun might be able to fire 120×570 mm NATO tank ammunition.

See also

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Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "ALTAY WEAPON SYSTEM". TURKISH DEFENCE INDUSTRY PRODUCT CATALOGUE. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  2. ^ Hyundai Rotem (31 July 2008). "터키 전차개발 기술협력 계약 체결". Hyundai Rotem. Archived from the original on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  3. ^ Kim Gwigeun (11 October 2009). "'흑표' 기술수출료 2014년까지 사용유예". Yonhap News. Archived from the original on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  4. ^ Choi Seunguk (20 October 2014). "[방산업계 울리는 ADD] 터키 수출 K-2전차 기술료 다 챙겨…'700억 돈잔치' 벌이겠다는 ADD". Korea Economic Daily. Archived from the original on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  5. ^ a b Army Recognition (1 October 2021). "Altay MBT Main Battle Tank". Army Recognition. Archived from the original on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  6. ^ "TANK AND HOWITZER AMMUNITION". TURKISH DEFENCE INDUSTRY PRODUCT CATALOGUE. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  7. ^ "TANOK 120 MM LASER GUIDED MISSILE". Roketsan. Archived from the original on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.