Large turrets already mechanized hoists, rammers, and much of the physical movement, so full automation required closing specific gaps in magazine handling. The difficult steps were selecting shells and propellant charges and delivering them to machinery that was already powered. A notional three-round-per-minute weapon would consume 180 rounds per gun in an hour, tying automation to magazine endurance as well as machinery. Armor-piercing and high-explosive ammunition could also require different firing solutions, while partial charges added another choice. Human supervision and the ability to clear failures under combat conditions made that final integration much harder than a simple rate-of-fire calculation suggests.
Chapter · 59:55-1:08:40
Combat reliability and shell selection set the hard problems
Moving the shell is only part of the problem. Ammunition selection and a safe loading cycle under battle damage are harder to automate.