How does the Pegasus SLWH traverse

touchstone_2000 SG

Hi,

The BAE’s M-777 traverse the gun by a gear thread at base. See pic from wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:M777_howitzer…

If the limit the gear thread is reached the arms of the gun is lifted and manually turned.

I have always wondered for the longest time how does the ST’s Pegasus Howitzer traverse? All the videos shows the gun being moved by the front wheels.

Any gunners care to shed some public light?

TIA

PS: militarynuts website registration seems to be broken since Jan 12

alize SG

Here's a pic http://www.flickr.com/photos/myfavoritepictures/5782122052/

I'm just speculating, but I think all guns traverse on the same mechanism. Ie on a gear of substantial size, precise and rugged enough to withstand the recoil and dirt and knocks about. Isn't it the only such traverse mechanism known to man, whatever you're firing?

Whether the gear is visible or not does not change the operating principle, just like whether the traverse is narrow like on the guns of old, or almost 360 degrees like on the 122mm Soviet D-30 and the 88mm Flak 18

touchstone_2000 SG

I there is a turn table of some kind as evidenced by the yellow dot. Since ST is hot on powered traverse, using the hydraulic driven front wheels, to me a layman seems highly inaccurate (CER wise)

alize SG

not a turntable, it's a big horizontal gear that the gun sits on. it has teeth for rigidity to transfer the recoil into the ground beneath. traverse is not 360 deg because the trail legs transfer the recoil too.

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m-198-dvic502.jpg

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/singapore/images/fh2000_design_fire.jpg