30mm L21A2 Rarden

     Notes:  The Rarden (Royal Armament, Research and Development establishment and Enfield) is fitted to the British FV-510 Warrior IFV, FV-107 Scimitar reconnaissance vehicle, Sabre reconnaissance vehicle, and FV-721 Fox armored car.  It was designed in the early 1960s to defeat known and projected armored personnel carriers of the time.  Requirements at the time included penetration, accuracy, low weight, and ease of operation.  This partially why the ROF was kept so low (90 rounds per minute); another reason was to prevent wasteful ammunition usage. The low rate of fire is primarily because while the Rarden is a dual-feed weapon, it is hand-fed by 3-round clips into either side of the weapon; the 90-round per minute rate of fire is the maximum practical rate of fire by a well-trained crew.  The lack of a belt feed also allows the dimensions of the gun to be kept smaller, and allows it to be used in turrets and on vehicles with limited space.  The low rate of fire also contributes to a low rate of wear and tear, and reduces maintenance. The Rarden has the advantage of having no firing gasses that escape into the vehicle from a vehicular mount. Operation is by long recoil, but the barrel is the primary part that recoils instead of the gun mechanism itself.  The recoil mechanism means that the Rarden does not need to be externally-powered and can remain in operation even if the vehicle’s power is put out. Spent casings and dud rounds are ejected forwards out of the turret.

Weapon

Ammunition

Crew

Set Up Time

Weight

Price

L21A2 Rarden

30mm Rarden or KCB

1

NA

139.8 kg

$20015

 

Weapon

ROF

Magazine

Range

Round

Damage

Penetration

L21A2 Rarden

3

100B

520

Rarden APDS

7

10/9/7/5

 

3

100B

520

Rarden APFSDS

7

14/12/10/7

 

3

100B

435

Rarden APSE

7

7/7/6/4

 

3

100B

390

Rarden HE

C2  B10

-3C

 

3

100B

390

KCB HEI

C2  B10

-3C

 

3

100B

435

KCB SAPHEI

C2  B10

7/7/6/4