L'Obusier de 155 Modèle 1950 (155 mm)

Description

The Obusier de 155 mm Modèle 50 is a French 155 mm 30 calibre howitzer first introduced in the 1952. It was the first artillery piece designed by the French Army since the World War II, around 980 of them were manufactured by France but also under license by Sweden and its Swedish Armed Forces. They were replaced by the TRF1 in the 1980s, but reserves were being made up until the end of 1990s.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• Lorraine 155 Mle.50

General info

The Obusier de 155 mm Modèle 50 is a 155 mm howitzer which was fitted onto the Lorraine 155 Mle.50. The cannon is devastating at any range, due to only being restricted to using HE shells which do not lose penetration power with increasing range, although using it at long ranges will prove to be an issue due to the relatively slow velocity. The projectile are loaded separately from the charges, which also leads to pretty high reload times, being roughly under half a minute.

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
M107	HE	54	54	54	54	54	54

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%
M107	HE	563	43.1	0	0.1	6,860	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)
M110	563	40.8	25	5	30	50

Comparison with analogues

Comparable cannons to the Obusier de 155 mm Modèle 50
Nation	Name	Year of Production	RPM	Ammunition	Maximum Penetration (mm)
▅	NSJ L/30 (155 mm)	1975	6 RPM	M107 M107 (PF) Type 75	61 61 54

Usage in battles

Describe the cannon/machine gun in the game - its distinctive features, tactics of usage against notable opponents. Please don't write a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought.

Pros and cons

Summarise and briefly evaluate the weaponry in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark pros and cons as a list.

Pros:

Cons:

History

The 155 mm howitzer was manufactured by France and it was the first artillery piece that the French have designed since the second World War. It was carried around on a carriage in the shape of a double-arrow. It was equipped with a muzzle break with gills and a variable recoil that can perform vertical shooting. Its maximum range was approximately 17,700 km with the French Mle 1965 shell.

Its mass was about 8,500 kg when it was deployed, but it was roughly 8,155 kg when set in a battery position.

In 1950, Lorraine came up with two prototypes of a self-propelled vehicle, which had the 155 mm howitzer mounted in a fixed casemate. The second one had its howitzer mounted in the front of the vehicle, rather than the middle of the vehicle as was the case with the first prototype. This project was however abandoned in 1955 and only the two prototypes were made.

The US was interested in Obusier de 155 mm Modèle 50, so after a collaboration between France and Israel in the 1960s, a gun was made to be used with the M-50 which was an open structured self-propelled artillery piece, mounting a single French Model 50 155 mm howitzer at the back of the hull, which was based on the "long" hull of M4A4 fitted with Continental engine. Probably about 120 of these guns were built.

Media

The L'Obusier de 155 Modèle 50 mounted on a Lorraine 155

See also

• NSJ L/30 (155 mm) - A similar Japanese 155 mm howitzer

External links

• [Wikipedia] Obusier de 155 mm Modèle 50
• [Chars-francais.net] Lorraine Automoteur 155 mm
• [artillerie.asso.fr] L'Obusier de 155 mm, modèle 1950/1963