The basic component of the Rheinmetall 105 mm rifled tank family is the Rh 105-60, a development of the British Royal Ordnance L7 series capable of firing the normal group of 105 mm tank gun ammunition.

As with the L7, this gun features a fume evacuator halfway along the barrel and a drop-block breech mechanism.

By careful redesign and balancing, Rheinmetall has produced a modular family of 105 mm guns capable of being fitted to tracked and wheeled armoured vehicles as light as 14 tonnes. These guns can all fire normal 105 mm ammunition and are completely compatible with existing fire-control systems.

The full family, including the Rh 105-60, consists of five guns (the -60 or -40 denotes the recoil force in tonnes). The details are as follows:

The Rh 105-30 has been fitted to the Spanish M47E2 and is suitable for mounting on the Marder 1. The Rh 105-20 is suitable for mounting on the M41, AMX-13 or Austrian SK 105 and is fitted with a muzzle brake.

The Rh 105-11 is also fitted with a muzzle brake and is sometimes known as the 105 SLR (SLR * Super Low Recoil). This gun is being advocated for a variety of light vehicles, possibly using a Rheinmetall autoloading system capable of carrying 15 rounds and firing 10 rds/ min. Although tested on a number of vehicles, the Rh 105-11 has yet to enter volume production and there have been no recent further applications for these guns.

Production as required. The only known production application of any member of this family is the Rheinmetaii RH 105-30 which was fitted to the Spanish M47E2 MBTs. These have now been phased out of service following the introduction of US supplied M60A3 series MBTs.