This flick rammer has been developed as a private venture by the Swiss Federal Armament Works and the now Curtiss-Wright Antriebstechnik.

The flick ramming drive has been developed for use with medium calibre artillery to increase the rate of fire, and achieve higher overall rates of fire, give consistent reliability of loading cycles, smoother ammunition handling, remote control of weapon systems, a reduction in manning levels and easier loading in confined spaces such as that associated with artillery systems.

For trials purposes the flick ramming drive has already been evaluated on an upgraded M109 series 155 mm self-propelled howitzer of the Swiss Army and other weapons. It can also be fitted to towed or auxiliary propelled field guns and howitzers.

Known production applications include the South African LIW G6 self-propelled and Swiss Ordnance Enterprise 155 mm Bison fortress artillery system. It has also been fitted to the Bofors APS 2000 155mm artillery test bench and other undisclosed applications.

The flick ramming drive accelerates the round on the loading tray hydraulically over the short distance of 200 to 300 mm, with the projectile then covering the remaining distance into the chamber cone in free flight. This principle allows both high rates of fire and constant ramming depths at all angles of elevation and with a variety of projectile types. The flick ramming drive allows a three-round burst of fire in 10 seconds.

The flick ramming drive can be installed on the horizontal or vertical type of loading arms.

The compatibility with projectiles currently developed has been taken into account and extensive field and laboratory tests with both Swiss and US projectiles have proved the operation of various types of fuze after the shock of ramming. Since 1989, more than 6,000 rounds had been fired by 155 mm systems fitted with the flick ramming drive under a wide range of field and climatic conditions.

The compact and modular design allows the retrofitting of the flick ramming drive in restricted spaces, especially in the M109 series of self-propelled howitzers.

Production with over 450 systems completed by mid-1999.