South Africa’s Denel Land Systems said it has developed an artillery piece that can directly fire three shells through the same hole–at a distance of one kilometer.

The locally developed artillery piece is extremely accurate and can fire at a range of 30 km and deliver 50 percent of its projectiles within the size of a soccer field, the company said in an Aug. 4 statement.

This degree of accuracy was achieved when the latest version of DLS’s 105mm Stryker was recently tested at the Alkantpan testing range in South Africa’s Northern Cape. The Stryker LAV III LSPH (Light Self-propelled Howitzer) differs from previous versions in that it can now be serviced by a crew rather than being remotely fired.

The company has worked with General Dynamics [GD] on the system, an earlier version of which was shown in the spring of 2004 with a Stryker and 105, in the United States.

Denel Land Systems CEO Stephan Burger says the firing tests were witnessed by members of the South African defense community. The tests underline the world-class characteristics of the gun and the quality of the engineering team responsible for its development, he said.

The 105mm Stryker is a joint project formed by DLS, General Dynamic [GD] Systems and Rheinmetall Denel Munitions, another subsidiary of Denel, South Africa’s largest manufacturer of defense products.

Research and Development work on the system started in the 1990s when a Denel/Armscor project team was given the task to produce 155mm, 39 caliber artillery range, accuracy and lethality from a 105mm system. The end product was an artillery piece with the weight of a 105mm howitzer, but the range and terminal performance of a 155mm System–with better precision.

The latest version tested at Alkantpan has a crew of three–a driver, commander/gunner and loader. Because the system fires off its wheels, it can be quickly deployed in action. The system weighs 18,200 kilograms with 36 rounds on board and is air-transportable with a C-130 aircraft.

Burger says the range of the artillery is between 6 and 30 km, depending on the configuration of the projectile and propellant charge.

Its accuracy is exceptional, the company said. During the firings, error margins of less than 0.3 percent of range was consistently achieved at maximum range. This kind of performance was made possible through the system engineering approach that was followed in developing the gun, the charges and the projectiles as an integrated system.

Burger says the system has generated significant international interest since it was first unveiled at the African Aerospace and Defence Exhibition in 2000. The turreted version of the 105mm System will also be able to fire from Finland’s Patria AMV vehicle, currently the platform for the South African Badger family of Infantry Combat Vehicles.