Early in 1997, Mauser-Werke Oberndorf Waffensysteme released brief details of a new 30 mm cannon, designated the RMK 30, which it has developed under contract to the German BWB.

The first application of the Mauser RMK 30 mm cannon will be the Eurocopter Tiger UHT helicopter of the German Army, but as it is recoilless, it can be installed on very light platforms such as soft skin vehicles which in the past could not be fitted with a weapon of this calibre.

A recoilless weapon almost entirely compensates the recoil impulse by taking advantage of the gases streaming out backwards while firing. In the design of the RMK 30, this has been achieved by a moveable cartridge chamber and an attached nozzle.

As well as being a recoiiless design, the RMK 30 has a number of other features including a three chamber revolver type breech cylinder (similar to that used in other Mauser weapons), moveable cartridge chamber, linkless ammunition feeding from the front with left or right feed, telescoped ammunition with a compact charge, combustible case and inductive primer.

The RMK 30 is capable of accurate and sustained firing and according to Mauser, dispersion patterns of less than 50 per cent compared with conventional cannon have been achieved during the trials programme.

The RMK 30 has a cyclic rate of fire of 300 rds/min with the actual gun weighing 100 kg and having a barrel length of 1,700 mm. The first round being developed is of the armour piercing (AP) type with a calibre of 30 x 280 mm and a muzzle velocity of 1,200 m/s. An armour piercing fin stabilised discarding sabot round is also being developed.

The first prototype of the RMK 30 was completed in 1997 and underwent manned firing trials installed on a MaK Wiesel 1 light tracked armoured weapon carrier. Since then a second weapon has been built which has a small number of improvements.

According to Mauser, their RMK 30 is part of a complete integrated weapon system which, for example in a helicopter application, will also include a number of other subsystems including tracker, thermal imager, fire-control computer, stabilised mirror, laser range-finder and gyro.

The overall system configuration is now being optimised by Mauser and it is expected that series production will commence in the first decade of 2000 to support production of the Tiger UHT helicopter for the German Army.

Prototype weapon. Not yet in production or service.