23 March 2022

Dutch navy selects Leonardo Lionfish naval gun system

by Kate Tringham

Leonardo's Lionfish Top 12.7 mm remote weapon station has been selected by the RNLN to equip several of its naval ship classes. (Leonardo)

The Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) has selected Leonardo's Lionfish Top 12.7 mm remotely controlled naval turret to equip several of its ship classes.

In an announcement on 21 March, Leonardo said the Lionfish Top variant would equip the RNLN's four Holland-class offshore patrol vessels, the landing platform dock HNLMS Johan de Witt and Joint Support Ship HNLMS Karel Doorman , and the service's future Den Helder-class combat support ship, which is under construction.

Leonardo first unveiled the Lionfish family of gun mounts during the Euronaval 2020 maritime exhibition in Paris. The Lionfish series consists of four remote-controlled naval turrets – three designed for 12.7 mm guns and one designed for 20 mm guns.

The Lionfish Top variant is designed for use as a primary or secondary ship-mounted armament. It weighs less than 300 kg and, according to Leonardo, is effective against close threats and in asymmetric warfare scenarios.

All four turrets in the family are equipped with the same aiming system, remote-control capability, and electro-optical director.

According to Leonardo, the aiming system is fully stabilised in elevation and azimuth via servo systems in a closed loop, with two independent gyros and two tachometers for redundancy. It also has an automatic target tracker for increased accuracy when engaging moving targets.

The operator lays the weapon on to the target using a local control console, which autonomously determines the stabilised firing co-ordinates by performing ballistic and target trajectory calculations.

The Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) has selected Leonardo's Lionfish Top 12.7 mm remotely controlled n...

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