"Spear" for special forces. The LNG-9 grenade launcher found new use

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In connection with advances in the field of armaments, obsolete samples are replaced with newer and more advanced systems over time. However, in some cases, older products may be of interest in the context of solving special problems. According to the latest reports of the domestic press, the rather old LNG-9 “Spear” anti-tank grenade launchers can find a new use. They are invited to enter the arsenals of Russian special forces. The latter will have to apply such weapon to solve new special problems.

The plans of the military in relation to the LNG-9 heavy machine-gun grenade launchers became known on the night of February 8 from a new publication of the Izvestia publication. Information on such weapons was obtained from an unnamed source in the Ministry of Defense. The military department, in turn, has not yet commented on press reports.



"Spear" for special forces. The LNG-9 grenade launcher found new use


According to Izvestia, the reason for the new decision regarding the LNG-9 grenade launcher was the results of the use of various anti-tank weapons during the current war in Syria. In the arsenals of different armies and armed formations there are grenade launchers of different classes and types, both Soviet / Russian and foreign. In this case, the fighters had the opportunity to test in practice the existing weapons and compare them with other samples.

It is indicated that in the Syrian war a number of armed formations used foreign-made anti-tank grenade launchers. The answer to such a threat could be the Soviet / Russian RPG-7 grenade launcher, but their characteristics were not always sufficient to suppress the enemy. First of all, there was not enough firing range. At the same time, the SPG-9 "Spear" products, which are distinguished by higher fire characteristics, were an effective means of suppressing enemy grenade launchers.

According to recent reports, according to the experience of the Syrian battles, the Russian military department intends to introduce “Spear” grenade launchers into the arsenals of special units. The latter will have to use such weapons as lightweight portable weapons, suitable for the destruction of manpower, fire points, light armored vehicles and other purposes. It is expected that the use of mounted grenade launchers will give the special forces certain advantages and will simplify the solution of some combat missions.

According to Izvestia, SPG-9 grenade launchers will go into service with special forces after a certain modernization. To improve the main characteristics and combat qualities, it is proposed to use a new sight, as well as updated ammunition. Grenades of new types will have to be distinguished by a greater power of the warhead.

It is curious that the decision to return to the arsenals of LNG-9 grenade launchers is similar to ideas already implemented by some foreign countries. So, quite a long time ago, based on the results of the first operations in Afghanistan, the American command decided to supplement the existing armaments of the operating units with hand grenade launchers. This led to a certain increase in firepower, and also expanded the range of tasks to be solved. Also an important consequence of such decisions was a certain savings. The same tasks can be solved with the help of anti-tank missile systems, but the use of such systems leads to an obvious increase in costs.

The LNG-9 “Spear” machine-gun anti-tank grenade launcher was developed from the end of the fifties, works were carried out in GSKB-47 (now BNTG GNPP). Ready weapons entered service with the Soviet army in 1963 year. For a long time, this grenade launcher was one of the main anti-tank weapons of the armed forces. At the beginning of the next decade, work was carried out on the modernization of the existing sample, and in addition, several new shots for different purposes with different characteristics appeared. The presence of several ammunition allowed to obtain sufficient combat potential.

LNG-9 maintained the status of one of the main means to combat armored vehicles until the eighties. By this time, new anti-tank complexes with guided missiles were created in our country, suitable for the full replacement of existing grenade launchers. Mass production and delivery of new ATGMs to the troops allowed the company to gradually reduce the share of heavy-duty grenade launchers, while simultaneously increasing the effectiveness of the anti-tank infantry defense.



Officially, the Lance is still in service with the Russian army, but the number of such systems has declined markedly in recent decades. Due to the emergence of newer and more advanced anti-tank weapons, grenade launchers were sent to storage, deducted or sold to third countries. The situation is similar with LNG-9 ammunition. Having certain stocks of shots, the army managed to send for disposal or sell abroad a significant part of such products.

LNG-9 rocket launchers, having appeared at the height of the Cold War, were actively acquired by foreign countries. Much of the buyers of such weapons still continues to operate them. At the moment, products "Spear" are in service with nearly three dozen countries. It should be noted that the list of countries-operators significantly increased in the early nineties, according to the results of the collapse of the Soviet Union. In connection with the well-known events in the Middle East, grenade launchers of Soviet and Russian production began to fall into the hands of various armed organizations. Such users of LNG-9 simply can not be counted.

In the course of various conflicts of the last decades, LNG-9 grenade launchers were used not only in the original anti-tank role, but also for other tasks. Due to the absence of large numbers of armored vehicles, they were used as a means of reinforcing infantry units and in fact became a substitute for light field guns. Despite the limitations in terms of firing range (the maximum achievable - up to 4-5 km, effective - no more than 800-1300 m, depending on the type of grenade), the Spear grenade launchers effectively hit remote small-sized targets that did not have serious protection.

According to an unnamed source of Izvestia, the Russian military studied the experience of using mounted anti-tank grenade launchers by foreign troops and armed formations. An analysis of the collected data showed that such weapons, despite their advanced age, may be of interest to modern special forces units. They can use the Spear as a light, portable weapon for a variety of tasks.

According to the latest news, before being adopted by special forces, the SPG-9 grenade launcher must undergo some modernization. First of all, this weapon needs new sighting equipment. At the moment there are two types of sights. For shooting during daylight hours, a PGO-9 optical sight with a 4,2x magnification is offered. At night, the PGN-9 passive infrared sight should be used. These products were developed specifically for the Spear and have the required parameters. How exactly the sighting systems will be upgraded is unknown.

It can be assumed that the used day sight that meets the requirements will be retained. Significant progress has been made in the field of night sights in recent decades. There is reason to believe that for the use of SPG-9 in special forces, a promising night sight built on a modern component base can be created.

Of great interest are information on the development of new high-capacity ammunition. Grenade launchers for LNG-9 are caliber grenades for various purposes, equipped with a propelling charge. Grenades of several types are also equipped with a jet engine that provides acceleration during the flight. The first LNG-9 ammunition was an 73-mm PG-9 shot with a cumulative warhead capable of penetrating up to 300 mm of homogeneous armor. Subsequently, new ammunition was developed with improved armor penetration rates. Fragmentation ammunition also appeared, among other things, distinguished by the absence of a jet engine.



Enrolling in the special forces, a modernized grenade launcher will have to perform various combat missions. He will have to retain the functions of anti-tank weapons and weapons to combat manpower or unprotected equipment. In connection with the current progress in the field of ammunition and current trends, it can be assumed that the nomenclature of “Lance” shots will be replenished with a product with a thermobaric warhead. Creating a guided projectile in theory looks possible, but hardly has a practical meaning.

It should be noted that, having a number of positive features, the LNG-9 grenade launcher is quite large and heavy. The length of the non-separable system exceeds 2,1 m. The body weight of the grenade launcher is 47,6 kg. The tripod machine weighs 12 kg; The wheel travel used in the LNG-9D modification is heavier on the 2 kg. Ammunition has a length of about 1 m and weighs from 3,2 to 6,9 kg. Thus, transporting a grenade launcher with ammunition can be associated with certain difficulties. It can be transported by various combat or civilian vehicles. Carrying weapons and shots by the forces of calculation is associated with known difficulties.

How the mobility problem of the grenade launcher will be solved in a possible modernization project is unknown. An acceptable way out of this situation could be the installation of the “Spear” on one of the existing chassis, which is in service with the army. Such an improvised combat vehicle could solve urgent problems and increase the potential of the special forces. However, often grenade launchers are transported and used on existing equipment without any of its modifications.

The proposal to equip special units with mounted anti-tank grenade launchers SPG-9 "Spear", which was recently reported by the domestic press, so far has an ambiguous image. The implementation of such a proposal will give special forces some new opportunities. First of all, grenade launchers will increase the firepower of the unit and increase its potential in the fight against certain targets. The development of new sighting devices and shots with improved performance will also have a positive effect on the overall effectiveness of the weapon. At the same time, there will be problems in the context of mobility, which, however, can be solved in obvious ways.

It should not be forgotten that the imminent adoption of the SPG-9 by special forces is only known from reports from unnamed press sources. At the same time, the source did not specify the approximate time frame for the implementation of such a decision, and also did not name which units would have to master the new weapons for themselves. Perhaps such information will be published in the near future. However, in this case we are talking about the rearmament of special units, and therefore all open information can be limited only to reports about the very fact of the adoption of modernized grenade launchers.


On the materials of the sites:
https://iz.ru/
http://ria.ru/
http://bratishka.ru/
http://army.lv/
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  1. +10
    9 February 2018 06: 21
    "Spear" for special forces. The LNG-9 grenade launcher found new use
    The weapon is certainly good and well-deserved, but clearly outdated and very heavy. If you want to have something like that, then you should turn to our own RPG-32 and create a similar type of weapon on its basis, so we will hold the championship in this type of weapon for another half a century.
    1. 0
      9 February 2018 11: 57
      Hmmm, since the 50s they have not found a use for it. However, it is not very comme il faut for a commando to carry a heavy pipe 2 meters long. winked And what is its novelty?
    2. 0
      9 February 2018 12: 02
      It’s easier to buy a license from the Chinese for their easel grenade launcher (the best in the world), since we ourselves can’t develop anything new ....
      1. +4
        9 February 2018 14: 57
        Quote: seos
        It’s easier for the Chinese to buy a license for their easel grenade launcher (the best in the world)

        Our people shot from it, they realized that our LNG-9 is better in terms of accuracy ...
        1. +1
          10 February 2018 18: 37
          Yes, much more precisely ... 3 times 3 hits, and untrained fighters who hold this toy 1 time in their hands and just found out about its existence ...
          The video is amazing... good
          1. 0
            10 February 2018 18: 50
            Quote: seos
            Yes, more precisely...

            Nevertheless, our dispersion is less.
    3. +1
      9 February 2018 20: 38
      There are two options ... or PR ... as they understand it now, or special forces have nothing to do with the special forces. It's like kamikaze and front-line intelligence, like both of these suicide bombers, but .... some must "die in the name of "... and the second" die but get. "
  2. +6
    9 February 2018 08: 12
    And isn’t it easier to modernize Baby’s control (or create something new in the same form factor) and give it in bags to MTR fighters? It costs about a thousand dollars.
  3. +4
    9 February 2018 08: 22
    Chet is strange. Old things are shoved into special forces ...
  4. +2
    9 February 2018 08: 23
    Now there is more modern and more powerful and more versatile ... it is possible both from the machine and in manual mode. The SPG-9 is very accurate, but heavy and the HE grenade is rather weak (namely, it will be the main one for special units) Ideally, you need a modern grenade launcher with a not very expensive adjustable projectile complete with simple ones ... (cheaper than ATGMs)
  5. +1
    9 February 2018 09: 11
    For special forces.
    Cheaper.
    Kind of mutually exclusive, isn't it? Giving junk to specialists, because even "Mestizos" are expensive (although they are just the thing, light, inexpensive and there is a thermobaric warhead). People, kmk are more expensive, but with weapons half a century old, let the barmaley run around.
  6. +1
    9 February 2018 09: 55
    Spear sights definitely need to be changed to something better. And as for complaints about the length of the shot ... it is assembled long, but apart - it’s not much longer than for the RPG-7.
  7. Owl
    +1
    9 February 2018 10: 03
    Due to the overall weight characteristics of the SPG-9, it is permissible to use it only in the territory under the control of the enemy, or in the territory not under the control of the enemy, that is, the MTR will perform infantry tasks abroad. Of course, participation in regional conflicts, for the MTR - a run-in battle, but there are signs of rash financial savings, a special forces fighter costs much more than a thousand SPG-9, give him a decent weapon, and if the money for development was laundered and stolen, then the "thieves' power" it is necessary for SPG-9 to equip riot police, SOBR and units of the National Guard.
    1. 0
      9 February 2018 10: 19
      So that's the point, against WHOM this weapon will be used. They will be transferred to the National Guard
    2. +11
      9 February 2018 11: 02
      I have always wondered how politics can be drawn to what is apolitical in principle. But, damn it, there are nuggets.

      As for the thoughtful reasoning about the "controlled territory". Unfortunately, all sorts of terrorists, rebels, partisans and other public are not aware of your thoughtful conclusions. Therefore, LNG, its clones and other recoilless systems have been most successfully used and are being used in vast areas in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia
      1. +2
        12 February 2018 15: 51
        In Afghanistan, he commanded 3 SMEs (G) in 181 SMEs 108 MSD. LNG-9 performed well in the mountains; good fire support tool. Even when conducting a battle in the villages. BTR and BMP could not be dragged through the narrow streets and vineyards flooded with water, and LNG-9 just right. The RPG-16 "Blow" display was still not bad. In the mountain battalions, it was in service, it developed, had an optical sight. Sighting range 800m, in the mountains an excellent means of fire support, it is a pity that it was a caliber. Our scientists could not make a powerful grenade for him and removed from service.
        1. 0
          12 February 2018 16: 14
          Quote: captain
          Our scientists could not make a powerful grenade for him and removed him from service.

          There was a different problem there. They were afraid to turn it into a pure support weapon by removing the anti-tank functions.
  8. 0
    9 February 2018 10: 26
    For me, it would be better to have done a remake of the Chinese recoilless Type 65 82-mm caliber, which the Asians reassembled from the Soviet B-10, where even with a large mass you can shoot from the shoulder.
    1. +7
      9 February 2018 11: 07
      Quote: Blue Fox
      For me, it would be better if they made a remake of Chinese recoilless

      By and large, the problem is the lack of an analogue of the light "long arm" called "Karl Gustav". Successfully used by Western SSOshniki.
      And there is no analogue yet
      It's just that even Soviet design thought went in a completely different way in this area.
      This is how you get out of the situation.
  9. 0
    9 February 2018 11: 10
    junk recycle
  10. +4
    9 February 2018 11: 54
    LNG-9 was used in anti-tank platoons of motorized rifle battalions: 2 calculations of LNG-9 and 2 calculations of portable anti-tank systems Malyutka. In my opinion a very good combination. Dragged for a sweet soul, no one complained that it was heavy, on the contrary they were proud that the most powerful weapon in the infantry. And if even this hellish typewriter has a thermobaric grenade, then there will be no price for it.
    1. +2
      9 February 2018 12: 09
      Make it out of titanium, and it will immediately become one and a half times easier.
      1. 0
        9 February 2018 18: 36
        and 10 times more expensive
        1. +1
          9 February 2018 19: 53
          If the grenade launcher is pulled over, it will immediately become clear what is more expensive, especially in combat conditions. This is titanium more expensive, yes. But 30kg. titanium weather for the total price of the product will not do.
    2. +2
      9 February 2018 13: 32
      He also has a machine with wheels ... and is very accurate for a grenade launcher
  11. +1
    9 February 2018 12: 50
    I read about the installation of a new sight with a ballistic computer on LNG9 back in 2006, if memory serves, in the Military Parade magazine. After 12 years, the device has found application)))
    1. +2
      9 February 2018 13: 32
      Yes, there you can put a rangefinder and a thermal imager .... now they generally produce everything in one.
  12. +1
    9 February 2018 13: 30
    Some tasks, certain goals, some kind of shot, unnamed source, approximate dates.......
    ......... a dummy, not an article.
  13. +1
    9 February 2018 14: 04
    According to an unnamed source of the publication "Izvestia"

    That's interesting. And what is this unnamed source? Especially in the RF Ministry of Defense. And where does the "family and school" look (FSB and counterintelligence). So everyone who has a language without restrictions chats what is necessary and what is not necessary.
    It would be necessary to ask Izvestia with predilection. Maybe they will tell more about the unnamed talker?

    I'm always touched by this wording.
    And is it about those people who signed the relevant documents?
  14. 0
    9 February 2018 15: 37
    It's about old scrap metal. Clearly, if for this pipe came up with a new powerful grenade! I have no words. Well done! And then they took an old grenade launcher with the same grenade and it seems that it can still be used for some purposes, in lightly armored targets, but with drunken gunners, to use .... Everything would be fine if there was just a pipe, but she needs a crane to carry and set in position. It is felt that the author has nothing to write about. Ukrainians won Maxim for fighting! Maybe we should go this way for lack of serious weapons?
    1. 0
      9 February 2018 18: 46
      For special forces (and not only) something like the new Spike would be ideal. Length - about a meter, weight - less than 10 kg with a missile, with anti-tank guns, penetration behind dynamic protection - 800 mm, combined guidance system, IR-optoelectronic, range - 1500 m
      1. +2
        9 February 2018 19: 23
        Quote: shahor
        something like the new Spike would be perfect

        It is not convenient for them to beat the squares. Yes, and too expensive.
        1. 0
          10 February 2018 00: 26
          And he has a high-explosive fragmentation rocket
  15. +1
    9 February 2018 22: 04
    Grenades of new types will have to differ in greater power of the warhead.

    Something came to mind "Davey Crockett". wink It’s just not clear, faith doesn’t allow cutting down a new recoilless rifle for special forces from composites and light alloys? sad
  16. 0
    10 February 2018 20: 04
    In the Donbass, Boot fights on both sides, not sugar, of course, but without fish ... His shaft in warehouses, shots, though dumbly overdue, sometimes work abnormally! The calculation is easy to learn, although with sights it’s stressful - they were the first to leave the warehouses!
  17. +1
    15 February 2018 08: 15
    As for the development of more powerful ammunition for the SPG-9 .... Why develop them? The Belarusians, at one time, developed them. Somehow they decided to modernize the 73-mm gun "Thunder", creating the "Thunder-2" .. and they developed new shots for it, more powerful ones. For this, in shots a 40-mm rocket " engine" was replaced with a 57-mm "engine" (from S-5). I don’t remember if thermobaric ammunition appeared then, but it was concrete-piercing .... And about the weight .... "help out" the fiberglass (carbon fiber) barrel with a liner made of high-strength steel (titanium) ... The KPU (computerized sighting device) will not interfere ... But the KPU needs to be created unified; for SPG-9, easel versions of RPG-29 "Vampire" and RPG-32 "former Hashim" ....
  18. 0
    15 February 2018 09: 07
    Put on carts and forward DRG. And then it all comes down ... oh, you need a bunch of old dough and invent something new, and then test it for 5 years, etc. And put it in a warehouse, and this ... dispose of and more give ... dough. Here are not deliberate actions to what they lead, neither myself nor the din and others will not give / sell.
  19. The comment was deleted.
  20. 0
    2 March 2018 15: 31
    from zop and external tsu from UAVs, for example. does not shoot like granite 120mm ..
  21. 0
    April 2 2018 20: 55
    Strange article .. complete confusion. "the pension is small but good" .. LNG-9 is a good thing for its time. 1300m and what ??? OG 9 yes. it’s good for infantry .. but again - where? ... heavy, and very much! ... for infantry AGS 17 with its 1700m range - and automatic fire - more efficient and easier .. for tanks it’s better "Metis" - but more expensive, but easier and more effective for the same MTR. To get rid of stocks by installing on some chassis and create ammunition of increased power - is that the task ???

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