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JANE'S DEFENCE WEEKLY - MARCH 09, 2005
China develops LD 2000 CIWS
CHRISTOPHER F FOSS JDW Land Forces Editor
Abu Dhabi
It has recently been revealed that China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) has developed the LD 2000 Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) and has already carried out some firing trials.
The system would typically provide close-in protection of high-value strategic targets such as airfields, command posts and logistic centres and it is envisaged that it would be part of an overall layered air-defence system that would also include surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).
The LD 2000 is mounted on a locally developed cross-country 8 x 8 forward-control truck. To provide a more stable firing platform, four stabilisers are lowered to the ground.
Mounted at the rear is the remote-controlled turret armed with a 30 mm seven-barrel cannon; two ammunition boxes each hold 500 rounds of ready-use ammunition. One magazine would typically hold armour piercing discarding sabot and the other high explosives. The empty cartridge cases are ejected forwards out of the lower part of the mount.
The 30 mm cannon has a cyclic rate of fire of 4,000 rds/min but would normally fire very short bursts. It has a maximum range of 3,000 m, but targets would normally be engaged at much shorter ranges, typically 1,000 m to 1,500 m.
The power-operated mount is unmanned and laid onto the target by a gunner who is seated in a fully enclosed module to the rear of the cab. Mounted on the top of the 30 mm gun mount is a wide-band tracking radar and alongside this is a day/thermal sighting system, which also incorporates a laser-range finder.
It is likely that the 30 mm weapon system was originally developed for ship-based applications and is very similar to the Dutch Goalkeeper CIWS, which is also armed with a 30 mm seven-barrelled cannon and is in service with the Royal Netherlands Navy and a number of other countries.
As part of an overall layered air-defence system, SAMs would be used to engage targets at longer ranges while the CIWS would engage close-in targets, especially smaller targets such as air-launched missiles and cruise missiles, which can be difficult to neutralise with some current air-defence systems.
Target information would come from a command vehicle fitted with a surveillance radar, which would typically control between three and six LD 2000 firing units. If the battery had six firing units, three could be re-deployed to a new firing position while the other three were ready to engage targets.
A number of countries, including Israel and the US, have developed similar truck-based systems, usually based around the US Raytheon 20 mm Phalanx CIWS originally developed for naval applications. Often these 20 mm CIWS have been combined with SAMs. However, despite intensive marketing none of the systems have entered production or service.
NORINCO's LD 2000 CIWS (scale model here) is based around a 30 mm rapid-firing cannon
(Source: C F Foss)