LIONFISH is the new family of small caliber remote-controlled weapon stations (RWS). Designed and developed by Leonardo, the new line consists of four models that feature the most advanced technologies available on the market today, including Ultralight, Inner Reloading, and Top in 12.7 mm caliber and Model 20 in 20 mm caliber. Featuring a common architecture, the Lionfish family of turrets is characterized by a compact and lightweight structure. Their lightweight, compact dimensions and safe deployment make them an excellent choice for installation on small ships or as secondary armament on larger vessels.
In our discussion yesterday with Stéphane Fremont, Naval Group’s Vice President – Surface Combatant Programs, during DEFEA 2023 defense exhibition held in Athens, Naval News learned that the Nexter NARWHAL 20mm RWS is gone and replaced with the Leonardo LIONFISH 20mm RWS on request by the Hellenic Navy.
Leonardo clarified to Naval News during DEFEA 2023 that LIONFISH is a modernization of the MARLIN family of RWS and its development is based on the experience of MARLIN and of course Leonardo’s artillery capabilities since 1976. Leonardo’s LIONFISH 12.7 TOP RWS has been chosen to equip the German Navy’s F126 new class of frigates and has been selected by the Royal Netherlands Navy to equip its Holland class OPV, the Johan de Witt LPD, the Karel Doorman JSS and the Den Helder CSS, while the LIONFISH 12.7 ULTRALIGHT equips the Swarmly’s new armed unmanned surface vessel (USV), the B5 Hydra, which was presented for the first time at DEFEA 2023.
Leonardo representatives said that the new RWS are easily integrated with the SETIS of FDI frigates similarly to the integration of OTO 76/62 gun or other Leonardo products with Naval Group designs.
Naval News learned the information from a source with knowledge of the matter but who wished to remain unnamed that the Hellenic Navy will install RWS on the four Island-class coastal patrol vessels which will be acquired from the US Coast Guard. Leonardo proposes for these four vessels the installation of LIONFISH 20 as well.
Furthermore, Leonardo proposes also this specific model of RWS for the Greek corvette program, for both candidates, Gowind of Naval Group and FCX30 (Al Zubarah-class variant) of Fincantieri. In that way, the Hellenic Navy will achieve a high degree of commonality in RWS among three different classes of warships: Kimon-class (3 + 1 vessels), Island-class (4 vessels), and the new corvette (3+1 vessels). Total 16+4 LIONFISH turrets for 10 vessels.
About Leonardo LIONFISH 20 mm RWS
The aiming system is fully stabilized in elevation and azimuth by means of powerful servo-systems in a closed loop with both two independent gyros and two tachometers for redundancy. All the components are fully protected by a stealth shield to minimize the RCS and allow the operation in the most severe environments.
The LIONFISH 20 is remotely controlled through its own Local Control Console and it is able to autonomously determine the stabilized firing coordinates by performing ballistic and target trajectory calculations. The Electro-Optical Director is constituted of a highly accurate sensors suite (with automatic tracking functionality) constituted of a daylight camera, an IR camera and a LASER Range Finder. The LIONFISH 20 could be also fully controlled by the external Firing Control System (FCS) by activating a proper switch of the Remote Control Console, in such a case target acquisition, target engagement, and firing are performed by the FCS itself.
