The 105 mm Type 4140 field howitzer was developed after the Second World War by Bofors (which in 2000 became Bofors Defence and is part of United Defense of the USA) which calls it the 10.5 cm field howitzer L/32 4140 four-trailed.

This weapon was never exported. Some sources state that Sweden has a total of 483 of these weapons in service.

In some respects the Swedish 105 mm Type 4140 is similar to the Russian 122 mm D-30 towed artillery system. This has three trails and the weapon can be rapidly traversed through 360є. The D-30 is however towed by its muzzle.

The monobloc 105 mm barrel 32 calibre is fitted with a single-baffle muzzle brake. The vertical sliding breech mechanism opens downwards during the last part of the recoil and ejects the empty cartridge case. The barrel is supported on two claws in a box-shaped cradle with claw guards. The buffer is hydraulic and the recuperator hydropneumatic. The cylinders for the buffer and the recuperator are built into the box of the cradle and can be cooled by filling the cradle with cooling liquid. The length of recoil is dependent on elevation and recoil length is set automatically.

Loading of the gun is facilitated by a tray mounted on parallelogram levers on the cradle. The tray is automatically lowered to the loading position as soon as the case from the previous round has been ejected and the gun has returned to the run-out position. The gun fires fixed rounds to enable a high rate of fire to be achieved. The cradle carrier consists of a pivot with welded box-shaped mounting sides. The pivot is mounted on ball-bearings in the lower mounting.

The gun is hand laid with the elevating handwheel on the right side of the gun. It has two handwheels for traversing, one on the left side of the gun and the other, which is used when the gun is laid by one operator, is on the right side to the immediate rear of the elevating handwheel. The traversing movement is transmitted via a number of gears to a worm gear, the pinion of which is secured to the lower mounting by a coupling. The traversing mechanism can be disconnected by means of this coupling and the gun can then be rapidly traversed. The elevating scale is on the right side of the gun mounting with the adjustable traversing scale on the lower mounting.

The balancing device is hydropneumatic, of the horizontal type, with one cylinder on either side of the barrel. The fluid in the balancing cylinder is the same type as the buffer fluid. The shield, which is 4 mm thick, consists of a movable central part fixed to the cradle and two fixed parts, one on each side of the cradle carrier. The lower mounting is shaped as a box with a pivot bearing and has a fastening device for the supporting plate and the trails.

The supporting plate is collapsible and its shaft is shaped with double concentric tubes. On the outer tube are lugs which serve as supports for the front trails during the conversion from travelling to firing position. The four trails are of welded construction and have fixed ground plates which are secured with pickets. All trails can be turned sideways and the front trails can also be turned upwards. In the firing position the front trails are vertically locked to the lower mounting and hydraulic buffer devices on the lower mounting automatically keep the front plates against the ground. When travelling, the gun is clamped by the front trails being folded up and locked against the cradle.

The wheels, which have pneumatic tyres with inner tubes, are mounted on pendulum arms, which are locked to the cradle carrier by half-bolts in both the travelling and firing positions. The brakes on the carriage are operated by compressed air from the towing vehicle, but can be lever-operated to serve as a parking brake.

The Type 4140 fires an HE projectile with the complete round weighing 21 kg, the projectile itself weighing 15.3 kg and the bursting charge weighing 2.3 kg; maximum muzzle velocity is 640 m/s.

Type 4140 Quantities: Country Quantity SWEDEN 483 Total: 483