South African defence company Denel Land Systems (DLS), part of the State-owned Denel group, will publicly unveil two new products at the 2013 Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition at the Excel Centre in London next week. The new products are the M10 60 mm breech loading mortar and the GI-30 30 mm “CamGun” cannon.

“We have chosen DSEI to launch these systems internationally because it is the world’s largest fully-integrated defence expo and attracts industry leaders, decision-makers and analysts from across the globe,” explained Denel group CEO Riaz Saloojee in a statement on Wednesday. DLS regard the mortar and cannon as world leaders in their areas and affirm that both have features that are unique.

Both new weapons have been developed in parallel with DLS’s new Badger infantry combat vehicle (ICV). This is a South African development of the Finnish Patria armoured modular vehicle, modified to meet South African requirements and fitted with a DLS-developed turret.

The M10 can be mounted in most standard turrets but it is so compact, and its recoil is so low (54 kN), that it can be mounted in light unarmoured vehicles and even on boats. It has an elevation range of – 5˚ to + 70 ˚, allowing it to be used in the direct fire as well as the more normal indirect fire roles.

It has a sustained rate of fire of six round per minute, or it can fire eight rounds a minute with one minute intervals between bursts, for up to 250 bombs. At sea level, it has a maximum range of 6 000 m, which, DLS stated, makes it the world leader in its class.

The company also affirmed that the M10 would be “an ideal weapon system for peace support operations and the changing nature of modern conflict in urban or other close environments.

“We are confident that the GI-30 will impress and excite the industry and visitors to DSEI,” opined Saloojee. “It was developed as part of our contract to deliver a world leading infantry combat vehicle for the South African Army. It will be the main weapon system on the South African Badger ICV but can be easily fitted into other turrets on the market.”

DLS describes the weapon as “an externally driven electromechanical cannon, utilising a drum-cam to cycle the breech to chamber rounds and extract spent cartridges. This reduces gases in the confines of a turret and improves the controlled firing rate”.

It can fire up to 100 rounds a minute, but can also be used in a single shot “sniper” mode with a closed breech. It has an effective range of up to 4 000 m. The GI-30 fires link-less 30 mm x 173 mm ammunition, of three different types – semi armour piercing high explosive incendiary, armour piercing fin stabilised discarding sabot and target practice type. It can use ammunition produced by DLS sister company Denel PMP or by European manufacturers Nammo and Oerlikon.