RARDEN

The L21A1 Rarden is a British 30mm autocannon used as an armoured vehicle weapon. The name is a contraction of the Royal Armament, Research and Development Establishment and Enfield. The Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE) and the Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF), Enfield, at the time, were both part of the Ministry of Defence.

Manufacture

The RSAF Enfield manufactured the Rarden from the early 1970s. However the RSAF was incorporated within the Royal Ordnance Factories in the early 1980s, in the run up to their privatisation, becoming part of Royal Ordnance. Royal Ordnance (RO) planned to close Enfield and several other sites after privatisation. British Aerospace (BAe) bought Royal Ordnance on 2 April 1987 and the closure of RSAF Enfield was announced on 12 August 1987. Most of RO Enfield's work was moved, prior to the closure of the RSAF, to RO Nottingham.

It appears that manufacture of the Rarden was carried out at British Manufacture and Research Company BMARC from 1985. They were also taken over by BAe in 1992, becoming part of RO Defence; now renamed BAE Land Systems.

ervice use

The Rarden is, or has been, fitted to a number of armoured vehicles in the British Army:
*FV721 Fox armoured car
*FV107 Scimitar tracked reconnaissance vehicle
*Sabre — FV101 Scorpion with turrets taken from Fox Armoured cars
*FV510 Warrior tracked armoured vehicle and variants

It appears that the Rarden was also intended to be retro-fitted to the FV 432, but when fitted with Rarden and its turret there was too little room left to accommodate the necessary infantry. Some vehicles were fitted with the Fox turret, as an experimental fire support vehicle. There were problems with the weapon fouling external fittings (which meant that the turret had to be mounted on a three inch spacer) and with blast damage to the flotation screen.

The weapon was designed for minimum inboard length, allowing for more space in the turret. Another feature is that no gun gas escapes into the turret. Spent cases are ejected forwards. Unlike the belt-fed systems on most vehicle weapons, Rarden is loaded manually with three-round clips. It has been criticised for having a cumbersome loading procedure.Fact|date=August 2008 The operation is long recoil with barrel and bolt initially recoiling together. This keeps the stresses on the mounting to a minimum. Rarden does not require an external power source and can therefore remain in action even if the vehicle is disabled.

The British Army is considering various 40 mm replacements for the Rarden.

pecifications

*Calibre: 30 x 170mm
*Overall length: 3.15 m
*Barrel length: 2.44 m
*Inboard length: 430 mm
*Complete weight: 110 kg
*Barrel weight: 24.5 kg
*Ammunition: Armour Piercing Secondary Effect (APSE), High Explosive Incendiary (HEI), Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot (APDS)
*Muzzle velocity:
**APSE, HEI: 1070 m/s
**APDS: 1175 m/s
*Range: 4 km (maximum)

References

* Pam, David (1998). "The Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield & its Workers". Enfield: privately published by the author. ISBN 0-9532271-0-3.