Castle-class OPV has the wrong gun

[Northstar98]

Hi everyone,

 

The Castle-class OPV has an incorrect primary armament (I don't mean to be harsh, but it's kind of a mess).

The current ship is depicted in its initial fit, accurate for the early to late 1980s. Within that timeframe the primary armament was the Bofors 40 mm L/60 (OQF 40 mm Mark III) in a Mark IX mount, which can be clearly seen in this image:

 

And here's what an example looks like close up (this might be a Mark VII or a Mark IX but as I understand it, they're more-or-less identical externally (the main difference being that the Mk VII is hydraulic and the Mk IX is electric):

 

In 1989/1990, this was replaced by a DS30B Mark I, mounting a 30 mm/75 Oerlikon KCB autocannon, which looks like this (these might actually be Mark IIs, but again, they're essentially identical externally, the difference being that the DS30B Mark II can also be fired remotely as opposed to just locally on the Mark I):

Spoiler

 

In DCS though, the current primary armament is depicted as a BMARC GAM-BO1, which IRL mounts a 20 mm/85 Oerlikon KAA (or possibly KAB) autocannon:

Spoiler

Also note that the gun-breach housing is way too wide and the model is fairly low detailed, even compared to other free assets or indeed the similar-ish Oerlikon 20 mm Mk 7 on the Leanders.

 

I can find nothing online supporting this gun being present on either of the 2 Castle-class OPVs and in any case, the gun was introduced in the mid 1980s, after both Castle-classes had been commissioned.

However, it unfortunately gets even worse; the depicted GAM-BO1 is actually modelled as a 25 mm M242 Bushmaster, firing M792 HEI-T. So not only have we got the wrong gun, the modelling of that gun is also wrong. As a comparison, the 20 mm Oerlikon Mk 7 on the Leanders is modelled as a Mk 20 Rh-202.

Edited December 24, 2023 by Northstar98
Minor correction - official designation is OQF 40 mm Mark III for the gun with the Mark IX being the mount