DEFA F1 (90 mm)

Description

DEFA CN90F1, also known as DEFA 921, is a French light gun designed for light vehicles. Operating on low pressure and being exceptionally lightweight by itself, it made the creation of AML-90 possible: gun was relatively easy to operate while also permitted the 5-tonne chassis to punch well above its weight.

The most troubling thing was the long range performance of the gun. Using low velocity ammunition and having rather inadequate fire control systems, the accuracy of the gun was far from perfect if not outright terrible. The Six-Day war and South African Border War, where the vehicles equipped with it were used confirmed it, as the AMLs were being constantly outranged while fighting M48s and even T-34-85s. The light chassis used to accommodate the gun was also not allowing to fire on the move out of fear of overstraining the suspension and transmission (apart from that, the gun was never equipped with stabiliser).

Nonetheless, in conflicts where it was used, it proved to be perfectly capable of destroying MBTs, especially when attacking in flanking manoeuvres.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• AML-90
• AML-90

General info

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Available ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
OCC 60-62	HEATFS	350	350	350	350	350	350
OE 90 F1	HE	13	13	13	13	13	13

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
OCC 60-62	HEATFS	800	3.65	0.05	0.1	877.7	65°	72°	77°
OE 90 F1	HE	640	5.27	0.2	0.1	945	79°	80°	81°

Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Screen radius (m)	Screen deploy time (s)	Screen hold time (s)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
OFUM PH90-F2	640	5.4	9	5	20	50

Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

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Pros:

Cons:

History

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Media

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See also

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• reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
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External links

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Israel tank cannons
30 mm	Bushmaster 2 Mk.44 (USA)
75 mm	SA50 L/57 (France)
84 mm	20pdr OQF Mk.I (UK)
90 mm	DEFA F1 (France) · M41 (USA)
100 mm	D-10T (USSR)
105 mm	M-51 (France) · M68 (USA) · Sharir
120 mm	IMI MG251
155 mm	M126 (USA) · M185 (USA) · Soltam M845