Piraña 6x6 TCM-20

Chilean_Thunder · August 14, 2023, 4:56pm

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Piraña 6x6 TCM-20

History:

The construction of the Chilean Mowag Piraña was carried out by Industrias Cardoen and FAMAE (Fabricas y Maestranzas del Ejercito de Chile) in the early 1980s. Industrias Cardoen was a Chilean defense company, owned by Carlos Cardoen. In this version, Chile installed an anti-aircraft gun of Israeli origin, the TCM-20, which has two 20 mm HS.404 automatic cannons, one on each side. This version has been seen in military parades and airfields. Chile was one of the few countries that had the license from Mowag to be able to build the Pirañas locally, thus building several of these vehicles in different configurations and different types of weapons, the version with the Israeli 20 mm cannons being the only anti-aircraft version that was built in Chile. Currently they are still used in the country.

Anti-aircraft Gun System

This anti-aircraft system appeared for the first time in 1970 during the war of attrition where it proved to be a very efficient system because it was capable of shooting down 10 planes in 10 engagements and later during the Yom Kippur war it achieved the amazing feat of shooting down 60% of the planes shot down by ground anti-aircraft defenses. Upon achieving some popularity, it would not take long for it to be exported to the foreign market, Chile being one of these countries, which is why this country would decide to install it in its Cardoen Piraña 6x6 for the defense of air bases.

Regarding the guns, these are two Hispano-Suiza HS 404 20 mm cannon modified to fire HS 804 ammunition which includes HEIT-SD, HEI, APT and TP-T. Main components of the TCM-20 are the carriage, mount, APU, two 12 V batteries with a capacity of 80 Ah, two 20 mm cannon and an M18 reflex sight. The gunner has front and side armor protection. Turret traverse and Gun elevation speeds are 60 to 72°/s in azimuth and 60 to 67°/s in elevation. The cannon are cocked manually and fired by an electrically driven solenoid which is controlled by redundant triggers in the gunner’s control. Each of the 20 mm cannon has a 60-round drum type magazine which weighs 12 kg empty and 28 kg loaded.

Since this anti-aircraft system is mounted on the Chilean Piraña 6x6, it provides better protection for the crew since, unlike the original Israeli vehicle, which was open, the Piraña is a completely closed vehicle with 8mm armor that, although not much at least it protects it from low caliber shots and blast splinters.

Specifications:

Crew:
- 4 (driver, gunner, loader, commander)
Armament:
- Primary: Two 20 mm HS.404 automatic cannons
Dimensions:
- Length: 5.97 m
- Width: 2.5 m
- Height: 1.85 m (without weapons)
- Weight: Total combat weight: 10.500 kg, plus the weight of the guns 1.350 kg (with two loaded magazines)
Maneuverability:
- Engine: Detroit diesel 6V-53T
- Horse Power: 300 HP/2800 RPM
- Max. speed on roads: 100 km/h
- Speed in water: 10.5 km/h
- Gear box: Allison MT-653
- Type: Automatic
- Gears: 5+1
- Fuel tank capacity: 400 lts.
- Range: 1,200 km.
- Max. gradient: 70%
- Lateral inclination: 30%
- Maximum obstacle height: 0,5 ms
- Turning circle: 11,3 ms
- Additional system: fire extinguishing system that is activated in the engine once it exceeds a certain temperature. Amphibious capability