Royal Ordnance L7

Royal Ordnance L7
An L7 mounted on a Centurion Mark 5
TypeRifled tank gun
Place of originUnited Kingdom
Service history
Used bySee Usage
Production history
Designedlate 1950s
ManufacturerRoyal Ordnance Factory
BAE Systems
Specifications
Mass1,282 kg (2,826 lb)
Length5.89 m (19 ft 4 in)
Barrel length52 calibres 5.46 m (17 ft 11 in)

Shell105×617mmR
Calibre105 mm (4.13 in)
Rate of fire10 rounds per minute (maximum)
Maximum firing range4,000 m (4,400 yd)

The Royal Ordnance L7, officially designated Gun, 105 mm, Tank, L7, is the basic model of the United Kingdom's most successful tank gun. It is a 105 mm L/52 rifled design by the Royal Ordnance Factories, intended for use in armoured fighting vehicles, replacing the older QF 20-pounder (84 mm) gun mounted on the British Centurion tank.[1] The successful L7 gun has been fitted on many armoured vehicles, including the Centurion (starting from the Mk. 5/2 variant), the German Leopard 1 and, in an altered design, as the M68 gun in several variants of the US M48 Patton and M60.

The L7 is a popular weapon and continued in use even after it was superseded by the L11 series 120 mm rifled tank gun, for some Centurion tanks operating as Artillery Forward Observation and Armoured Vehicle, Royal Engineers (AVRE) vehicles. The L7, and adaptations of it, can be found as standard or retrofitted equipment on a wide variety of tanks developed during the Cold War.

  1. ^ Starry, p. 113