BMY/IDF M-109L Doher

     Notes:  The Israelis have been using the M-109 since the early 1970s, starting with essentially unmodified M-109A1s and A2s.  These are called Rochevs in the Israeli Army. The Israelis have retained these in service for use by training units, but they are no longer in front line use.  The Doher is an upgraded Rochev, introduced in 1993 to active service and in 1997 to reserve forces.  (They are still in the process of being replaced by the Doher in reserve forces.) The Doher has been brought up to M-109A5 levels, and then a bit more. Israel has upgraded at least 429, and possibly as many as 530.  Most of the modifications from the M-109A5 standard were designed and carried out by IDF depot-level maintenance. The Israelis are also in the process of modifying the Italians’ M-109s to the Doher standard.

     The Doher’s 155mm howitzer has been lengthened to L/45, along with fire control equipment and computers that allow it to fire within 25 seconds (5 phases) of a halt if the target location is known.  The Doher also has GPS with inertial navigation backup and mapping software for its computers to allow it to work with the minimum amount of information from FIST teams or FDCs.  (It is not quite capable of acting as its own FDC, but can react very quickly to FDC instructions and directly from FISTs. The Doher has a limited autoloader that reduces the need for handling the heavy shells and powder bags of the 155mm howitzer, though it is not a full autoloader.  The travel lock on the Doher is electrical; formerly, the driver had to guide the weapon into the travel lock and close it, then open the lock again when it reached the fire position.  The commander has a cupola with all-around vision blocks and a weapon mount.  Unlike the typical M-109, the hatch may be opened and locked in the slit position, giving the commander a modicum of sight without exposing completely to enemy fire.  There is a loader’s hatch that has a mount for a machinegun, but no cupola or vision blocks. Night vision is added and better direct fire sights and stabilization are provided.  On each side of the turret is a cluster of five smoke grenades.

     Appliqué armor has been added, and the Doher has the ability to lay a smoke screen by injecting diesel fuel into its exhaust, a capability the M-109 lacks. Another, major upgrade is the integration of counterbattery radar into the vehicle; the Doher can carry out such counterbattery fire without needing direction from a dedicated counterbattery unit if the enemy battery is within 19 kilometers.  The radar is found in a dome on the left front of the turret. The crew has an NBC Overpressure system as well as collective system backup.  The rear of the turret and hull have doors for ammunition replenishment as well as crew entry; doors are also found on each side of the turret.  Above the turret doors is a large basket for equipment storage; this basket wraps around partially to each side, though the right side of the basket is occupied with an 8kW APU and an air conditioner.  As a result, the left side of the basket extends further along the side of the turret.  Also on each side of the turret are two large equipment on the right side and one on the left, and pairs of smaller ones are found attached to the left and right rear of the turret basket.  Furthermore, on the rear side on each side of the vehicle are a pair of large equipment boxes.  Hydraulic jacks are added to the rear of the vehicle to stabilize it when firing.

     The engine is a 440-horsepower 8V71T turbocharged diesel; Israeli versions have been upgraded to an automatic hydropneumatic suspension.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: The M-109L comprised only about 20% of active units in the Twilight 2000 timeline; reserve units did not have any.

Soltam L-33 Ro’em

     Notes: This is a self-propelled howitzer built by Soltam of Israel on the chassis of the M-4A3E8 Sherman tank, which Israel had many of at the time. This was in the late 1960s, when much of the world was mad at Israel and armor and artillery could be hard to come by.  It led to some creative solutions.  The designation “L-33” refers to the L/33 length of the gun barrel.  Another designation often used by the L-33 is the M-68; this happened because of press confusion about the gun’s designation and the vehicle’s designation (the gun is the M-68.).  These vehicles saw a lot of action during the 1973 war, despite their guns’ short ranges; they were the ideal solution to quick fire support when something larger than a mortar was needed.  The Ro’em has long been out of use by the Israelis, but some countries looking for cheap artillery have shown interest in the L-39 version of this vehicle.

     As of 2013, the L/39 version is in limited production is only in very limited production, producing the vehicles necessary for other countries trials programs and world expositions.

L-33

     The short-barreled 155mm howitzer is mounted in a fighting compartment consisting of a raised superstructure running from the rear to the middle of the vehicle.  The shape of the vehicle has led to nicknames like “shoebox with a gun,” “refrigerator on tracks,” and other such commentary on its boxy shape.   The front is fully armored, though the sides and rear have thin armor only, and the rear is essentially a gate that can be swung down or removed to allow for ammunition resupply.  The interior of the fighting compartment is open, with perhaps a tarp for rain protection.  Armor is essentially simple RHA.  The L-33 retains the driver’s position or the Sherman in the front left of the hull; he can attach a bullet resistant windshield to his front and sides for when his head is out of the hatch (AV1 only), or drive with his head inside the vehicle using two frontal and two side vision blocks.  The driver can also remove the front-most vision block and replace with a night vision block.  No NBC protective provisions have been made other than the crews’ own masks and MOPP suits.  The commander has a position to the rear and above the driver; he has a manually-operated 360-degree rotation cupola which has a mount for a medium or light weapon.  One of the crewmembers (usually a loader) can man a second machinegun cupola, which has allowances for heavier weapons. The commander and the loader (in that cupola) are at the top of the raised superstructure.  On each side of the vehicle are armored doors for crew entry and exit and equipment loading.  Each door opens to the rear.  The rear door/gate is generally used only for ammunition or bulk resupply. Four fold-up seats are found in the fighting compartment for use during moves or other down period.

      The primary armament of the Ro’em is a short-barreled L/33 155mm Howitzer.  In general, the working parts of the howitzer are in the fighting compartment behind the midpoint of the front face; the gun projects forward from the front face and is put in travel lock by the driver or a loader climbing over the top of the front. It has a standard muzzle brake for US 155mm guns. There is a panoramic IF telescopic sight and a telescopic sight for direct fire. Despite the elderly nature of the gun on this vehicle, it can fire out to 20 kilometers. Though the vehicle can carry 60 rounds of 155mm ammunition, only 18 are kept in ready racks.

     Power is by a diesel engine instead of a gasoline engine, developing 460 horsepower.

L-39

     The L-39 was at first designed for IDF units using the L-33, as an upgrade.  It was, however, determined at the time (mid 1970s) that a better SP artillery vehicle could be had, and the IDF bought only very small amounts of the L-39 for evaluation.  This left a vehicle that Soltam could potentially sell on the world market, and they have been trying off and on since, with the L-39 becoming ever more sophisticated.  The L-39 was, as stated above, aimed at less-well-heeled customers, those who could not afford modern artillery.  However, later in time, the L-39 became more and more sophisticated; today, Soltam will modify the L-39 to customer specifications.  The base L-39 is basically an L-33 with an L/39 barrel. The L-39, however, has been updated to keep up with the market while retaining it’s relatively cheap price. Upgrades to the currently-advertised model include the addition of inertial navigation, secure, data-capable radios, a small (3kW) APU, revised ammunition storage (24 ready rounds instead of 18), a position for the installation of a ruggedized laptop (not included in the price), and computerized indirect fire control (essentially, a small, handheld computer that can receive data through the radios from the FDC).

Soltam M-50

     Notes:  This is another modification of the Sherman tank chassis by Israel, this time to carry a French-designed Model 50 155mm howitzer.  This vehicle was first introduced in the late 1950s, and was in reserve status by 2000. Most of them never made it outside of Israel's borders during wartime.  The layout is similar to the Ambutank, but the rear area is open-topped and taken up by the howitzer and ammunition.  These vehicles have been long out of service; most of them were scrapped or turned into range targets by 2010; none were exported.

     This is a relatively short-ranged howitzer; the barrel is only L/28.  However, this, ironically, allows the M-50 top have a secondary role of tank destroyer, though it has no turret and only extremely-limited traverse. The howitzer is mounted at the rear of the open-topped hull.  The M-50 Howitzer has so many baffles in its muzzle brake it almost looks like a pepperpot brake at first glance.  A hydropneumatic recoil dampener takes up most of the shock from the firing of the howitzer.  Maximum elevation is +69 degrees, and depression is about -1 degrees.  The front of the vehicle next to the driver has a travel lock that is engaged and disengaged by the driver or one of the loaders.

     The fighting compartment is open-topped and has only a small modicum of armor on the sides and rear (or the front, for that matter).  The rear half is built up on the sides, and there are armored doors at the rear.  The front half of the vehicle has no side or frontal armor, and is designed to give the gun crew more room to work.

     The driver is in his customary Sherman position on the front left side; due to the mounting of the howitzer and its ammunition carriage, the engine has been relocated to the front of the vehicle, to the right of the driver.  Some half of the total amount of ammunition carried is in ready racks.  The vehicle commander has a hatch on the left side behind and above the driver; this is a simple cupola, with a weapon mount in the front of him, usually behind an AV2 gun shield.  This has been seen with one heavy machinegun, two heavy machineguns, one medium or light machinegun, of two light machineguns.  The rest of the crew have foldup seats in the fighting compartment and may engage with small arms if necessary.

     Power is by a diesel engine instead of a gasoline engine, developing 460 horsepower, and this is mated to a manual transmission.

Soltam M-72

     Notes: Since the conversion of a Sherman into a self-propelled howitzer has met with unanticipated success, The IDF approached Soltam with a proposition to convert some its older or more battered Centurion tanks into self-propelled howitzers.  These were to be approximately equivalent to the Sherman-based Ro’em. In 1986, Israel converted some of its older Centurion (Mk 5) tanks to carry a turret mounting a 155mm howitzer.  There were only a few of these conversions, however, as a decision was made to concentrate on the development of a new SP howitzer, the Slammer (q.v.).  Those that were converted were placed in reserve status, becoming museum pieces (if they were lucky) or range targets. 

     As stated, these vehicles had the same basic role as the Ro’em, carrying 155mm howitzers and having basic equipment for their missions.  The gun on the M-72, however, was in a turret instead of simply a built-up superstructure (the turret was kind of large, however).  Two designs of guns were tested, differing primarily in barrel length.  Some extra gear, such as data-capable secure radios, a connection between one of the long-range radios and the indirect fire ballistic computer, a dock for a laptop, and a viewer that could display the maps (lessening the need for paper maps).

     The new turret is of all-welded RHA steel armor; this turret forms the primary fighting compartment and houses the commander, gunner, and two loaders.  The guns were updated versions of the same as on the Ro’em, 155mm L/33 and L/39 howitzers.  The L/33 was on the prototype, but the M-72 was envisioned to be produced with an L/39 gun, once full production took place. The turret allows for reasonably precise hydraulic control and very fine final positioning under a special fine manual control.  The gun has a maximum elevation of +65 degrees and depression of -3 degrees.  Unusually, the travel lock for the gun barrel is on the rear of the hull and travel configuration is with the gun over the rear deck.  The travel lock is electrical and no crew member needs to manually actuate the travel lock. 

     Secondary armament consists of a heavy machinegun for the commander, and a lighter weapon for the AA machinegunner (who is normally one of the loaders).  In addition, a cluster of five smoke grenade launchers is found on each side of the turret.

     Armor is pretty decent for a vehicle of its type, and the turret has a door on each side for crew and equipment entry.  As the forward part of the each side of the turret are ports for small arms.  The crew has the protection of an NBC overpressure system with a collective NBC backup.  They are also protected by ballistic nylon antispall blankets around the turret and turret basket, as well as around the driver’s compartment.  The driver’s hatch is in the center front of the vehicle and has wide-angle vision blocks to his front, with one turned halfway to the right and one turned halfway to the left.  The center block can be viewed using a night vision channel.

     A weakness of the M-72 was the engine it inherited from the Centurion Mk 5; it has a Rolls Royce Mk IVB 650-horsepower engine, which was fired by gasoline instead of what most armored vehicles at that time used, which was diesel.  This gave the M-72 high fuel consumption.  Most likely, had development continued, it would have received a diesel engine.  The M-72 also inherited a powerful 15 kW APU from the Centurion Mk 5; this also used gasoline and ran off the vehicle’s own fuel supply.  The driver also had to cope with the manual transmission that was balky.

     In the end, the M-72 program was halted in favor of the acquisition of the M-109 and new vehicle development such as the Slammer and the Rascal.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: Some 50 of these conversions were undertaken before and during the Twilight War, showing the value on which the IDF placed artillery and the need for much of it.

Soltam Rascal

     Notes:  The class that of SP artillery that the Rascal is in is a rather rare category; the Rascal is designed to be able to use most conventional road surfaces and bridges (including railroads) without damage to the road or railroad surfaces without damaging them.  The Rascal has not been exported, despite heavy marketing by Soltam, and its appearance as several arms shows throughout the world.  Unlike many SP artillery vehicles, the Rascal is not based on any tank, SP gun, or APC chassis; it is a custom-built vehicle.  The Rascal is the lightest SP artillery system developed by Soltam, who envisions an array of vehicles based on the Rascal chassis.  With an L/39 barrel, it is known as the Rascal, while the L/45 and L/52 versions are called the Diabillo.

     The Rascal was designed to be light in weight, able to take those roads mentioned above as well as smaller road and railroad bridges.  The key is that the Rascal is relatively light in weight, and the vehicle is rather long in size and has a tracked suspension, able to spread its weight in a large area.  The compact design also allows it to be air-transportable, not including the C-130/G.222 series of aircraft (though with its L/39 gun, it can fit in those aircraft).  The light weight also makes quick and mobile in combat situations or road marches.  It is capable of negotiate most terrain types.

     The gun is a Soltam-designed 155mm howitzer, and an L/39, L/45 or L/52 gun may be used.  The gun is mounted at the rear of the vehicle, and extends through most of the fighting compartment, with the gun in either iteration hanging over the front of cab when in travel configuration.  The gun is mounted on a turntable, allowing a traverse of 30 degrees in either direction, and with elevation of +65 degrees, and depression of 0 degrees. Before firing, a pair of hydraulic jacks is lowered at the rear corners of the vehicle for stabilization. The Rascal has 36 ready rounds of ammunition, with another four kept in its shipping crate.  These are stored in the front of the fighting compartment.  The gun is fed by an autoloader; all the crew must do is insert the correct order of shells.  There are no mounts for heavier weapons on the Rascal; however, a cluster of five smoke grenades is found on each front bumper.

     Armor, unfortunately, nothing to write home about, which also keeps the vehicle lightweight.  The rear of the fighting compartment has no armor whatsoever, and is exposed to the outside elements.  The fighting compartment is also open to the elements, though on each side are low-rising armored plates with internal equipment storage.  The ammunition racks are also inside an armored box. When in travel configuration, the crew rides inside the better-armored crew cab, which has NBC overpressure, an air conditioner, and a heater. The driver, gunner, and commander ride in the front while the assistant gunner and the two loaders sit in the rear seats.  Behind this there is a space for personal gear and rations. Power is provided by a turbocharged diesel developing 350 horsepower.  The Rascal also has an automatic transmission, along with conventional driving controls.  The Rascal has GPS, but no capability to come up with its own targeting information and an FDC is required for anything but inaccurate fire.  The Rascal does have a mapping computer and an artillery ballistic computer which can take the information directly from the FDC and convert it into fire coordinates.

     Teilight 2000 Notes: Due to accelerated testing and production, some 20 Rascals were available to the IDF for the Twilight War.

*Hull armor on the Rascal is a bit complicated.  The armor figures listed above are largely for the vehicle’s cab.  The fighting compartment is open, and therefore offers little protection; however, the rear half of the vehicle, where the ammunition is stored, is contained within AV2 lockers that can also protect the crew if they crouch behind it, or offer some protection when returning fire with their small arms.  The cab’s roof has AV4, as does the floor; in fact, the floor of the entire vehicle has an AV of 4.

**The Radiological protection listed above is for the cab only.  The Radiological rating in the fighting compartment is “Open.”

Soltam Sholef (Slammer)

     Notes:  The Sholef (translates to “Slammer”) is a heavily armored artillery gun mounted on a modified Merkava Mk1 chassis.  Many of these vehicles are Merkava Mk1s that were retired after the Mk 2s and Mk 3s came into service.  The Sholef is a fully-modern artillery gun on par with the Paladin, PzH-2000, and Braveheart.  Soltam does not appear to be offering the Sholef for export, but is offering some of the components as upgrades to existing systems; the Sholef’s components have a high degree of modularity. (Though the Indian Army tested the Sholef during its search for a new artillery gun, it was not selected.)

     The chassis is, of course, a modified form of the Merkava Mk 1; the primary difference is the removal of the heavy Chobham armor of the Merkava. The engine is the same turbocharged 900 horsepower diesel engine, with a T-bar steering column and automatic transmission.  Armor protection, though reduced from the Merkava, is still something to cause envy to rise among artillery crews.  (The Sholef was designed in part to allow it to survive a short slugfest with other armored vehicles.)  The driver remains in the front center of the tank, with the powerpack in front of him; this is why the turret and driver’s compartment are further back on the gun than most such vehicles.  The engine and transmission are combined in a unitary powerpack that can be removed in 30 minutes and replaced in an hour by an M-88 or other appropriate vehicle and a competent mechanic team. The turret is large and blocky, good for housing a big gun but not for protection.

     The main gun is a Soltam-designed L/52 155mm gun, with a large multibaffle muzzle brake, fume extractor, and heavy-duty recoil cylinders.  As the Sholef is designed to survive a short engagement with armor, the gun has good stabilization and fire control equipment and even fire accurately at direct fire targets while moving at half speed. The Sholef is heavy enough that external hydraulic jacks are not necessary.  The turret is also designed by Soltam; is a large turret over 2 ½ times the size of the Merkava’s turret.  The large turret, along with proper arrangement of internal ammunition in the hull, allows for a copious onboard ammunition supply. The hull door in the rear that is present on the Merkava remains on the Sholef and for every 6 rounds that are removed from the hull ammunition supply, the Sholef can accommodate one extra soldier.  A half-sized bustle is mounted to the left of the door.  The Sholef’s gun is fed by an autoloader that requires only two men to operate.  Even the fuzes are attached automatically with this autoloader.  Charge loading is manual, but comes from a tray beside the main gun.  The Sholef can fire at a burst rate of 3 rounds in 15 seconds (1/phase) every 10 minutes, but normal ROF is 9 rounds per minute (ROF ½).  At the rear of the turret is a large door for reloading ammunition; an integral loading belt can be lowered to load from various different vehicles of a ground pile.

     The Sholef is highly computerized, and also has GPS with inertial backup and the equivalent of the US Blue Force/Red Force tracker; a computer finds the maps, digests the numbers, positions, and coordinates, and provides an indirect fire control solution.  This means that the Sholef can not only fire immediately upon a halt, it does not require an FDC, and most Sholef units do not operate with one.  Fire missions are received through a battery of data-capable secure radios, including two long-range, one medium-range, and one short-range radio.The computerized system also gives the commander information on the state of the Sholef, from engine conditions to fuel state to the type of round loaded into the breech. The gunner fires indirect fire missions with the aid of the computers via an LCD panel instead of the gunner having to use an IF sight.  The same system can provide the gunner with direct fire information, though he must still use the optical sight for direct fire engagements. The driver’s LCD screen provides navigation through the GPS and mapping systems and partial Blue/Red Force Tracker information, as well as state information for the powerpack and fuel.

     The gunner, commander, and the loader are in the turret.  The commander has a manually-rotating cupola with all-around vision blocks; one has a night vision channel.  The turret loader mans a medium machinegun when he is not busy in the turret, but he has no cupola and only one wide-angle vision block forward.  The crew is protected by an NBC Overpressure system with a collective NBC backup; air conditioning and heating is also provided, along with a water/ration heater capable warming up to four MRE-type packets at once.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: These vehicles were just entering production at the outset of the Twilight War, and are rather rare.

Soltam SPWH-2052

     Notes: Currently in the advanced prototype stage, the SPWH-2052 is a modified Rascal chassis mounted on a heavy truck.  The truck chassis itself is a hybrid of the Atmos 2000 heavy truck and the Czech Tatra T-815 VVN heavy truck.  The SPWH-2052 has all the latest artillery technology on a platform that is much lighter and less expensive than the Sholef.  Currently, the SPWH-2052 is not ready for the world market, but should be by 2015.  It is not known whether the IDF plans to acquire any.

     As stated above, the chassis is based on that of the Rascal.  The “Rascal portion” of the chassis is enlarged over the Rascal; it is designed to carry more onboard ammunition, the fighting crew during fire missions, and the crew’s personal gear and rations inside of the fighting compartment.  The main gun is a Soltam-designed 155mm L/45 or L/52 howitzer, and can fire any 155mm ammunition in the world.  Before firing, hydraulic spades must be lowered at the rear. The SPWH-2052 has the necessary equipment to act as its own FDC, and the equivalent of Blue/Red Force Tracker technology.  The fire control suite includes a GPS, a mapping system and display, advanced IF fire control, direct fire fire control, and an artillery ballistic computer, all integrated into the SPWH-2052’s communications system.  When pulling into a fire position, the SPWH-2052’s systems automatically use the GPS or inertial navigation system to obtain a position and that of the target, calculates fire coordinates, and, if switched on, automatically loads a round of ammunition of the crew’s choice.  The fire control system also indexes the first target and moves the gun to the correct elevation and traverse once a halt has been made and the spades lowered. The autoloader is derivative of the Sholef’s, requiring only 2 men to operate, and even attaching the fuzes to the rounds (chosen by the crew, of course).  The SPWH-2052 is capable of direct fire in emergencies.  A 10kW APU allows the vehicle to operate for a time without the engine on; priority for the APU’s power is given to the gun’s autoloading system.

     Crew setup is essentially the same as on the Rascal, with the entire crew riding in the cab until a fire mission. Like the Rascal, 32 ready rounds are kept in racks, with 8 more in a crate as well as a crate containing fuzes and powder bags.

     Only four crewmembers are required for the SPWH-2052, however, the cab is the same size, and there is more room for personal gear and rations.  Above the commander’s position is a hatch with a manually-rotating cupola and all-around vision blocks, and a weapons mount.  All four crewmembers man the gun during fire missions, and ride in the cab during movement; there is room for three crewmembers to sleep inside the cab if necessary.  Only one crewmember is required to fire the gun; however, the crew includes a loader and the driver doubles as a loader.  The commander doubles as an assistant gunner.  The SPWH-2052 has C3 technology which have displays in the fighting compartment and in the cab, for use by the gunner, commander, and driver, which provides as necessary the state of the vehicle, gun, ammunition, fuel, and any possible damage or malfunction.  The crew has NBC overpressure in the cab and collective NBC for the fighting compartment and for emergencies in the cab.

     Being a hybrid of the Tatra T-815 VVN and the Atmos 2000 truck, is has the best of both world in most cases.  The vehicle’s suspension is 6x6, and can run at ¾ speed with the two center wheels shot out.  However, the chassis has run-flat, puncture resistant tires. Power is provided by a turbocharged 355 horsepower diesel engine; the powerpack is unitary and can be pulled and installed in one operation.  The tires are heavy-lugged and designed for use off-road; the wheels have independent suspension.

     The vehicle has armored plates and lockers in the sides of the vehicle that extend up to the head level of the working crew; this armor and lockers only extend halfway from the rear of the vehicle.  The rear has an armored tailgate that protects from rear-quarter small arms shots and shell splinters, but rises only to the abdomen level of the working crew.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: Not available in the T2K timeline, accelerated development and production makes this vehicle available in small numbers in a T2K13 timeline.

*Hull armor on the SPWH-2052 is a bit complicated.  The armor figures listed above are largely for the vehicle’s cab.  The fighting compartment is open, and therefore offers little protection; however, the rear half of the vehicle, where the ammunition is stored, is contained within AV2 lockers that can also protect the crew if they crouch behind it, or offer some protection when returning fire with their small arms.  The cab’s roof has AV4, as does the floor; in fact, the floor of the entire vehicle has an AV of 4.

**The Radiological protection listed above is for the cab only.  The Radiological rating in the fighting compartment is “Open.”