2.2 THE VEHICLE

The G6 is a SPG of approximately 45 tonnes with a turrent situated to the rear of a long hull. It has 6x6 drive, one axle forward and two to the rear with run-flat tyres.The wheeled chassis is manufactured by Reumech OMC. It has an air cooled diesel of 386Kw,  situated behind the driver who is positioned in the front and centre. Here, it shows the lessons learnt from the SAAF Pathfinder fire fighting vehicle, have been applied in its development. Maximum speed is about 90km/h on road and about 30km/h cross country or in the desert. Range is about 700km on internal fuel. The six-speed automatic / manual gearbox is fitted with a torque converter. Maximum gradient is 40%, trench crossing 1 metre and the fording depth 1 metre. It also features a double armoured hull for protection against landmines (TM46 or equivalent). A wedgeshaped box in front of the driver is used for bush-clearing and contains 16 projectiles.

A crew of five is carried in the fighting compartment. The turret can traverse through 360, but firing usually occurs 40 degrees, either side of the centreline. An acces hatch at the rear eases loading from outside the vehicle. Five firing ports are fitted to the turret as well as smoke dischargers. A machine gun can also be fitted for local or anti-aircraft defence. For closed-down driving or fighting, full periscopes are fitted to the turret but the driver only has forward vision periscopes.

When the barrel is fixed in the travelling position, it is offset to starboard, probably to enable the driver to escape from his compartment. In the turret 45 projectiles and 50 charges are carried.The rear storage charge bins are fitted with blow-off safety doors in case of accidental ignition.

With a muzzle velocity of 900m/s, a G6 projectile will probably pass through any other AFV at long ranges. Time into action is about a minute and out of action is about half of that. Three rounds a minute for 15 minutes or 100 rounds a hour is posiible. Ammunition types are High Explosive, Illumination, Smoke or White Phosphorus. The gun is compatible with all NATO 155mm ammunition. Nominal range is 39km, with certain types of ammunition ranges of 50km is possible.

To back up the weapons, a whole range of systems has been developed, such as a computerguided fire control system, muzzle velocity measuring device plus meteorigical and communications equipment. Gun laying and navigation equipment comprises a ring laser gyroscope system equipped with a touchscreen control developed by the Kentron division of Denel. The gun function fully autonomous and there is no need for survey or alignment at the gun position.

2.3 ADVANTAGES OF WHEELS OVER TRACKS

Because of the huge distances involved when a conflict takes place in Africa, wheels make good sense as a wheeled vehicle needs less fuel, maintenance is easier, intervals between maintenance is doubled and a wheeled vehice requires less than half the engine power than a tracked vehicle requires for the same performance. Coupled with the fact that a wheeled vehicle's production cost is half of a tracked vehicle and that Citizen Force personnel would have to operate the vehicle, it was certainly a wise course taken to develop a wheeled vehicle.