Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun
The Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60 (often referred to simply as the "Bofors 40 mm gun", the "Bofors gun" and the like, see name) is an anti-aircraft autocannon, designed in the 1930s by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors. The gun was designed as an intermediate anti-aircraft gun, filling the gap between fast firing close-range small calibre anti-aircraft guns and slower firing long-range high calibre anti-aircraft guns. The Bofors 40 mm L/60 was for its time perfectly suited for this role and outperformed competing designs in the years leading up to World War II in both effectiveness and reliability.
| Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60 | |
|---|---|
British Bofors 40 mm L/60 on Mk VII naval mounting, Priddy's Hard, Gosport, United Kingdom | |
| Type | Autocannon |
| Place of origin | Sweden |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1934–present |
| Used by | See Users |
| Wars | See Wars |
| Production history | |
| Designer | AB Bofors |
| Designed | 1930 |
| Manufacturer | Bofors Defence (1932–2000) Zastava Arms (1970–present) Gun Carriage Factory Jabalpur (1960-present) United Defense Industries (2000–2006) BAE Systems AB (2006–present) |
| Produced | 1932–present |
| No. built | >60,000 (L/60) |
| Variants | See variants |
| Specifications (L/60) | |
| Barrel length | 2.25 m (7 ft 5 in) |
| Crew | 4 (dependent on use) |
| Shell | 40 × 311 mm R |
| Shell weight | 0.9 kg (2 lb 0 oz) |
| Caliber | 40 mm |
| Barrels | 1 or 2 |
| Action | Automatic extraction and integrated cam-operated recoil powered autoloader |
| Breech | Vertical sliding-wedge |
| Carriage | 522 kg (1,151 lb) |
| Elevation | −5°/+90°, 55°/s |
| Traverse | Full 360°, 50°/s |
| Rate of fire | 140 round/min at low elevation angles 120 round/min at high elevation angles |
| Muzzle velocity | 850–880 m/s (2,800–2,900 ft/s) |
| Maximum firing range | 7,160 m (23,490 ft) |
It entered the export market around 1932 and was in service with 18 countries by 1939. Throughout World War II it became one of the most popular and widespread medium-weight anti-aircraft guns. It was used by the majority of the western Allies and some Axis powers such as Nazi Germany and Hungary.
In the post-war era, the Bofors 40 mm L/60 design was not suitable for action against jet-powered aircraft, so Bofors developed a new 40 mm replacement design with significantly more power — the Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/70, also known under the generic name 'Bofors 40 mm gun' — which was adopted by many nations during the Cold War and was selected as NATO-standard in November 1953. The Bofors 40 mm L/60 would however continue to see service long after becoming obsolete as an anti-aircraft weapon due to the massive number of surplus guns from WWII, and a small number of Bofors 40 mm L/60 guns remain in service today. Some weapons saw action as late as the Gulf War and Yugoslav Wars.