Yep the Royal Ordinance Factories L118 Light Gun proved to be a fantastic piece of kit and has served with distinction with the Parachute regiment and Royal Marine Commandos since since entering British Army Service in 1976. Were so glad you liked it and are building it under licence at the Rock Island Arsenal. The Gun was originally based upon a design created for Italian Mountain Warfare Troops, but re-envisaged by Royal Ordinance. Not the first British Gun to be adopted by US Forces, the 57mm Gun M1 was the venerable British QF (quick firing) 6lb anti-tank gun. A weapon that would prove itself lethal against the German Africa Corps in North Africa 1942, through to Arnhem where it gave British Para Troopers a fighting chance against an SS Armored Division that was not supposed to be their.
They have the gunner doing the quadrant and deflection. When i was on M109 we had a gunner , quadrant as a second position. this is more efficient and he did;t seems rushed. Fewer people getting the job done.
This Howitzer was just entering service when I retired from the US Army in Nov. 1991. I was the OIC at the US Army Ordnance Center and School's Artillery Repair course. I was not impressed in this British designed piece. We were told that it could not be towed over 35 mph on pavement and that the initial issue of howitzers were not fixable without hand fitting of repair parts and until we started to manufacture the gun in our factory, would be that way for the foreseeable future. After 30 years, I hope Ordnance got that mess straightened out.
I love you guys, thank you. You take care of the front and soon I will have your back. November is almost here. When the Trojan horse gets here, all hell is going to break loose. Pray Pray not another civil war.
The Brazilian Army is in studies to acquire this 105 M119 A3 Howitzer, at the moment we use the Howitzer: 105 M56 OTO MELARA; L118 LIGHT GUN and the old M101 A1 from the time of World War II. It is worth mentioning that for the protection of our Amazon, the Howitzer 105 M56 OTO MELARA, is still considered ideal, because in some places the helicopter cannot land with it, and it allows it to be completely disassembled and even carried on the back of a donkey and it is still used by Parachutist Field Artillery Groups.
Nice video. Why do they stare down the barrel after shooting each & every round ? What might there be left to cause concern (each time you shoot a round)? PS. i thought you'd do it only once in a while.
It’s extremely rare, but there have been cases where the powder is ignited but the round doesn’t leave the tube. The tube still recoils because the powder explodes but there’s an obstruction in the tube. The assistant gunner has enough time between rounds to verify the bore is clear without slowing down the ROF of the piece.
I know this is a year old, but, just to clarify... I was a cannon crew member with C battery, 4th battalion, 11th field artillery, stationed out of Ft. Richardson, Alaska, back in 2003-2006...And the M119, which was the howitzer we used, is small, compared to ALL the other artillery pieces in the army... The M119, is 105mm, the others are 155mm and bigger.
To be fair, 105mm is "light" artillery almost the world over. Has been since WW2 onwards. I was a 13B out of 1-320th FAR, 2BCT, 101st Airborne and worked on these babies while I was in
It's actually called deflection and quadrant. How far left and right and how high the barrel should be elevated. And yes it is. It's all digitally computed now and shows up on the screen
