Since the first appearance of tanks on the battlefields of World War I in 1916, infantry from all over the world have been actively exploring how to deal with the new tanks and the subsequent increasingly solid concrete fortifications on the battlefield.
Proven in the field of war, the powerful, lightweight, and easy-to-carry recoilless guns and rocket launchers were found to be the best choice for breaking through armored targets and fortifications, so they were affectionately known as "cannons in the hands of infantry" by grassroots soldiers.
The United States M18 Recoilless Gun: The Pioneer Force of an Industrial Power As an industrial power, the United States began to distribute individual rocket launchers and recoilless guns for the army's grassroots standards during World War II, among which the M18 57 mm shoulder-mounted recoilless gun (equipped with a monopod) and the M1 "Bazooka" 60 mm rocket launcher became important fire support for the grassroots infantry combat team.
These advanced equipment enabled the U.S. infantry to have more than other countries' infantry offensive firepower at that time, and became a pioneer force in modern warfare.
In the early days of the establishment of the PLA, due to the limitation of the technical level, it was impossible to copy the captured M1 type "Bazooka" 60 mm rocket launcher (the main M9 improved model in the hands of the transport team leader), so most of the front-line infantry could only use explosive packs and blasting canisters to attack the fortifications, which brought a lot of unnecessary ** to the PLA soldiers.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) developed the Type 51 rocket launcher by drawing on the American "Super Bazooka" captured in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea and the Japanese Type 4 70-mm rockets.
After the end of the war, China's industrial level has been greatly improved, so our military industry copied the Soviet-made -10 82 mm recoilless gun, and produced a lighter Type 65 82 mm recoilless gun.
With a total weight of only 30 kilograms, this ** can be quickly disassembled, and after disassembly, it is lighter than the previous large-caliber recoilless gun, making it more convenient to carry. It has a maximum range of over 1,700 meters, and is equipped with micro-spinning armor-piercing and anti-personnel explosive shells that can easily destroy enemy armored units and fortifications, causing them to be reduced to pieces.
Still, this ** is somewhat heavy and requires eight people to carry and use, so it is not suitable for individual anti-tank use.
The most common anti-tank ** for grassroots infantry in our country is the Type 69-1 40mm rocket-boosted anti-tank grenade. Although the Type 65 82-mm recoilless gun and the bazooka look similar, they work very differently.
The rocket of the bazooka has an independent rocket propulsion device, which can be launched even without a bazooka. During World War II, the U.S. military often used Bazooka rockets as mines to destroy enemy tanks.
Bazooka's rockets are used in a very different way from recoilless guns, with rockets burning in place and recoilless guns that do not rely on the barrel to ignite. In contrast, the Type 69-1 anti-tank rocket-booster grenade mainly relies on the propellant at the rear of the ammunition and the rocket-booster engine that is activated after a period of flight to provide launch power, which can effectively increase the range and stabilize the trajectory to ensure the lethal effect of the armor-piercing warhead.
In addition, the armor-piercing projectile in the rotating state also has an effect on the armor-piercing depth.
The German Iron Fist of World War II is an anti-tank grenade with two black gunpowder cartridges. Similar to the classic anti-tank ** RPG-7 of the former Soviet Union, the Type 69 rocket launcher is also made in China, inheriting the simple structure, easy production and carrying of the RPG-7, as well as the characteristics of high power.
As soon as this individual anti-tank ** was launched, it became the standard equipment of the PLA infantry squad.
The RPG-7 is equipped with an 85mm super-caliber rocket-propelled grenade, and the basic model can penetrate 110mm 65-degree steel armor at a maximum range of 300 meters from its low-light sight, which is enough to fight tanks such as the T62, effectively reducing the pressure on the PLA infantry on the northern tank cluster.
The armor-piercing capability of the subsequent improved model has been increased to 180 mm 65-degree armor, which can even threaten advanced Soviet-made tanks such as the T72. In order to meet different needs, China has also developed a series of new anti-personnel rockets, armor-piercing bombs, air-explosive steel ball anti-personnel bombs, anti-personnel armor-piercing bombs, incendiary anti-personnel bombs, flare bombs, electronic countermeasure jamming bombs, smoke bombs, anti-tank submunitions and cloud burst bombs and other supporting ammunition, further broadening the combat range of the Type 69-1 anti-tank rocket launcher.
One of them has a landing jump bombing function, which is intimidating.
Although the Type 69-1 anti-tank ** rocket launcher is based on its unique Type 69-1 rocket launcher, due to the limitation of the principle of no recoil, its propellant utilization rate is relatively low, the weight of the barrel body is large, and the rocket booster is relatively affected by wind deviation.
With crosswinds of up to 1 meter per second, the deviation of the landing point of the Type 3 rocket-booster grenade can even reach an astonishing 12 meters, which means that the shooter team must risk shooting at close range in the face of bad weather on the battlefield to ensure accuracy.
However, the actual effective firing range is often difficult to achieve the ideal 300 meters. In addition, the rocket extended-range engine fires and smoke are continuously generated after ignition, which can reveal the position of the shooter, which can provoke enemy fire.
Therefore, although the Type 69-1 rocket launcher has certain advantages, it still has some limitations in practical application.
Although the Type 69-1 anti-tank ** rocket launcher has played an important role in the past, with the upgrading of armor forces in the new era, its armor-piercing ability has become insufficient.
Although a thicker armor-piercing warhead can increase the depth of armor piercing, it will also increase the weight of the bazooka, affecting its individual portability and range advantage. After many upgrades, China has found that the upgrade potential of the ** is limited, and the expansion of the caliber of the barrel body and the replacement of a larger rocket booster engine can only bring limited improvement, which is almost the same as the effect of a newly designed anti-tank rocket launcher.
Therefore, we need to look for new anti-tank ** to deal with the evolving threat.
The PF89 individual rocket launcher was officially launched in 1989 to solve the problem of occupying the establishment of the Type 69-1 anti-tank rocket launcher, and weighs about 13 kg.
Although the early models of ammunition had a short range and low armor penetration, the PLA launched several individual anti-tank rocket launcher projects in the following period.
The upgraded version of the 97A 93mm individual cloud burst rocket launcher and the PF-98 120mm anti-tank rocket launcher installed in 1999 have become an important part of our army's efforts to enhance its anti-tank and offensive capabilities.
The PF-98 bazooka has a tandem warhead design, and the armor-piercing projectile weighs 63 kg, the thickness of vertical armor piercing reached 800 mm, which was enough to destroy the T72-BV tank head-on.
Even in bad weather, the rocket endurance engine equipped with it can make the missile shoot in crosswinds of less than 6 meters per second, and there is no need to correct the wind deviation within 1000 meters, which greatly improves the use range of the rocket.
The range of the PF-98A combined launch canister is up to 400 meters, and the range of the battalion canister is 800 meters. The multi-purpose ammunition of its equipment weighs 76 kg, muzzle velocity of 205 meters per second, can easily penetrate 400 mm armor, contains a large number of steel balls and combustible metal zirconium inside, the combustion killing effect is remarkable, the killing radius is 25 meters, the maximum range can reach 2000 meters.
In practice, it is usually necessary to form a group of 2-3 people, one of whom carries the launch canister body and sight, and the other two carry two rockets each, and if it is necessary to use it at the company battalion level, it is necessary to carry a tripod.
Its built-in fire control system can provide digital information services, which greatly improves the reaction speed and shooting accuracy during strikes. Nevertheless, the PF-98 and PF98A 120-mm anti-tank rocket launchers caused a lot of controversy as soon as they were launched.
The PF98A rocket launcher is known for its powerful anti-tank capabilities, but it also brings challenges to its use due to its large firing charge, high launch noise, large rear spray volume and wide danger area.
At the time of launch, personnel within 100 meters and 70 degrees directly behind the rocket launcher need to avoid, and at the same time, obstacles and flammable materials must be cleared, which makes it very difficult to choose positions, especially in the environment with complex terrain and narrow space such as landing beachheads and urban street battles.
The core idea remains the same: the safety of the PF98A rocket launcher and the difficulty of selecting positions.
The weight of the PF98 system of the PF98A is very large, and the weight of the launch canister of the early model is close to 10 kg, and it is also necessary to carry the matching armor-piercing projectile. Its weight even exceeds that of the Type 65 recoilless gun, resulting in a heavy system, poor maneuverability, and a large number of firing groups, which affects the flexibility of the combat mode, and has the problem of "not rushing and not being able to spread".
Although its 800 mm armor-piercing penetration depth can deal with some backward tanks of the last century, such as the T72-BV, it is far from powerful for third-generation tanks such as the M1A2A.
The M1A2-SEP and Gen III tanks are equipped with advanced fire control and sighting systems, which can easily detect and return fire from up to 1 km away against the Pf98 targets, which are large and have harsh deployment conditions.
In this case, it is more effective to use a lightweight Type 89 bazooka for a round-the-clock salvo sneak attack. With the end of the Cold War, the advantages of the PF98 rocket launcher were gone, and even if weight reduction improvements, such as the PF98A, could not change its bulky and inflexible and excessive capacity.
In the past, when the tank cluster of the North existed, we were able to tolerate the problem of the PF98 type bazooka, but in the new era, the threat of the North has disappeared, and the problem of the exposure of ** equipment, spawned by the experience of the Cold War, is unbearable.
Driven by actual combat, the firepower of the American squad has been developed. However, after the end of World War II, due to a misjudgment of the world situation, the United States had relatively little research on individual anti-tank **.
Take the M20A1 Super Bazooka, for example, a piece of equipment used by the U.S. Marine Corps in the late stages of World War II until the Vietnam War. Although the United States began to design the M72 rocket launcher in 1958, it was not adopted by the military until 1963, which shows that the United States does not pay enough attention to the development of anti-tank combat equipment.
The M72M72 rocket launcher is a single soldier ** that can provide front-line soldiers with powerful firepower. Although its power was limited by the diameter of the barrel of 66 mm, this did not prevent it from becoming an inspiration for the Swedish military at the time**.
This ** was commissioned by the United States to produce by a Norwegian company, and due to the geographical proximity of the two countries, it is difficult to avoid borrowing from each other. As a result, Sweden's FFV company successfully developed the AT-4 rocket launcher, and after the finalization experiment, it attracted the United States to order 270,000 units with its excellent performance.
Later, the ** also obtained the right to license production, and was localized as the M136 rocket launcher, with a total production of more than 400,000 units.
Immediately after the success of the Swedish company FFV through the sale of anti-tank **, it began to improve the anti-tank ** system. This is the later Carl Gustaf 84mm recoilless gun series, which changed the backward state of individual anti-tank technology of Western armies and became the second most recoilless anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade after the RPG series of anti-tank rocket-propelled grenades**.
The latest M4 recoilless gun was highly praised by the US military and was designated M3E1. Since the current combat environment of the US military in the Middle East is mainly open or narrow mountainous terrain, the firing range of this recoilless gun exceeds the RPG series by 200-500 meters, providing the US military with the ability to engage Afghan civilian forces at long distances.
The M3E1 is a gun with high muzzle velocity and excellent accuracy**, which can accurately hit targets at a distance of 600 meters and reach an extreme attack range of 1700 meters. The unique recoilless gun design allows it to have no visible wake during flight, reducing the risk of exposure.
Considering the needs of multi-purpose operations, the M4 recoilless gun is also equipped with a series of specialized ammunition, such as super-caliber rocket extended-range armor-piercing shells and tandem warheads, giving it more options on the battlefield.
In addition, the recoilless gun of the M4 type weighed only seven kilograms, so the United States ordered and equipped its basic infantry squad with 9 M3E1 guns in large quantities.
Each infantry squad of the Stryker Brigade of the US Army is equipped with FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missiles, forming an all-round anti-tank protective network from 4,000 to 150 meters, which is very comprehensive.
At the same time, the laser-guided artillery missile GCGM, developed by Saab in cooperation with Raytheon, will accurately hit targets at a distance of 2,000 meters and provide more powerful fire support.
I heard that the FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile not only has excellent performance, up to $80,000 a piece, but also has the ability to attack the top and shoot after firing, which poses a threat to most tank fortifications and even low-altitude targets.
Interestingly, U.S. soldiers on the front line often used Javelin missiles to attack all hostile targets they saw, which may also be due to the fact that the distribution of the M3E1 made the U.S. military more focused on saving military costs. "
The recoilless guns of the Karl series, although produced in Sweden, also had some shortcomings. Due to the limitation of the aperture of the barrel, the latest Karl M4 recoilless gun fires standard armor-piercing shells with an armor-piercing depth of only 550 mm, and the maximum range of standard ammunition is only 600 meters (1700 meters is the maximum range of special ammunition).
In addition, due to the large number of combat munitions and different ballistics, soldiers are required to train for a longer time. Moreover, because the ammunition cannot move with the bullet, the safety is somewhat sensitive, and the Laval nozzle used will produce a loud sound when fired, which seriously affects the hearing and respiratory system of nearby personnel, and maintenance also requires a special warehouse.
In general, the recoilless guns of the Karl series are a typical anti-tank ** of Western ideas.
The anti-tank ** in the hands of the PLA is being upgraded, and the Karl M4 recoilless gun leads the Chinese anti-tank ** to surpass the times. The PF98 120-mm anti-tank rocket launcher performed well against the tank cluster of the North, but it was somewhat ineffective on other battlefields.
Although its firing range is long, the benefit of armor piercing is low, and the ammunition equipped with attack is heavy and inconvenient to carry, which cannot carry out single maneuvering and rapid response. In addition, the huge load prevents soldiers from carrying enough self-defense**, which poses a danger to the battlefield of the future.
Therefore, China turned its head to upgrade the PF89 rocket launcher to meet the needs of a wider range of battlefields.
In the current environment, the PF98A bazooka combined with an individual anti-tank missile and a lightweight recoilless gun is probably the most effective defense**. Our country has made significant progress in this area, on a par with the United States.
China has successfully developed and tested a new 82mm recoilless gun, and the individual anti-tank missile has also begun to be installed in 2021, benchmarking against the Red Arrow-12 of the American Javelin.
The Red Arrow-12 is a milestone innovation in the field of individual anti-tank missiles in China. This third-generation individual anti-tank missile system developed by NORINCO is at the same level as the Javelin missile in the United States, using television guidance and uncooled infrared thermal imaging guidance technology, and has excellent performance characteristics such as self-guided after launch, top attack and armor breaking, great power, strong anti-jamming ability, and not limited by meteorological conditions, which can be called China's version of the Javelin anti-tank missile.
Due to the focus on reliability of our equipment, the maintenance of the Red Arrow-12 is easier than that of the American Javelin. Its effective range is generally 2000 meters, and when using a television seeker, the strike range can be extended to 4000 meters, the penetration depth is up to 1100 mm, and thanks to the flexible guidance method, it can also destroy low-altitude targets in addition to ground targets
This ** will replace the old and bulky PF98 120mm rocket launcher in our army. We look forward to the arrival of a new 82mm lightweight recoilless gun that will put it on par with U.S. individual anti-tank capabilities.
In terms of anti-armor and anti-fortification means, in addition to the use of traditional anti-tank equipment, China also makes full use of the strength of a manufacturing power to give priority to the development of individual unmanned aerial vehicle cruise missiles.
At the 2019 Zhuhai Air Show, AutoNavi Infrared Company showcased the S570 cruise missile, which is an improved 70mm unguided rocket, equipped with infrared and optical guidance, the body of the bomb is modified with four folding tails to improve lift, and the bullet tail is equipped with folding propellers to increase the range.
This cruise missile weighs 9 kilograms, can be carried by individual soldiers, has a maximum range of 10 kilometers, and can even penetrate reinforced concrete fortifications of about 300 millimeters. In addition, a ZT-5 cruise missile of Zhongtian Company is also quite good, its weight is only 5 kilograms, the maximum range can reach 20 kilometers, and the Aerospace Science and Technology Group's CH-901 cruise missile is also gradually improving, will be put into actual combat testing.
This kind of first-class product is blooming, and even the United States is envious.
The S570 anti-tank missile, which defeats the enemy in one hit, has a range of up to 10 km. Looking back on history, our army has taken a detour in the research and development of individual anti-tank equipment, but our military scientific research personnel, relying on their independent spirit and ingenuity, have successfully reversed this disadvantage, enabling our country to achieve overtaking in the curve in the performance of individual anti-tank equipment in the second decade of the new century, reaching the world's top level.
With the advent of more and more advanced equipment, China's military strength is bound to usher in a new leap. On the Internet, there are always people who ignore the facts and slander the military equipment of our country.
Let's reply to them with the classic quote of ***: "Let those internal and external reactionaries tremble before us!" Let them say that we can't do this and that we can't do it!
The indomitable efforts of the Chinese people will surely steadily achieve their goals! —The Chinese have stood up" (opening speech at the first plenary session of the New Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in 1949).