Ersatz artillery based on RPG-7
The good old RPG-7 grenade launcher, the same age as Gagarin's flight into space, deservedly gained fame as one of the most common grenade launchers in the world. RPG-7 love and regular troops, and militant groups. You can write a very voluminous book about the military biography of this grenade launcher, which has fairly fought in various countries.
RPG-7 in the hands of a Vietnamese soldier
In my opinion, his military biography is far from over, and it is this grenade launcher that has every chance of becoming one of the most widespread types of weapons in a major war. This article is devoted to this aspect. Due to the fact that the topic is extensive and has many details and nuances that are interesting in and of themselves, I will briefly describe, dwelling only on the essential points.
Universal "pocket gun"
Despite the fact that RPG-7, like its predecessor RPG-2, was created to combat armored vehicles, and only cumulative grenades were made for both grenade launchers for a long time, however, experience in its use clearly shows that RPG-7 was without prior order It becomes a universal wearable recoilless gun, used against armored vehicles, and against unarmored vehicles, and against firing points, and against manpower.
There are many examples of this. Afghan Mujahideen and Chechen fighters (from 50 to 80% of the fighters had RPG-7) usually began their attacks with a massive grenade strike. The sudden shelling of several or even dozens of grenade launchers not only caused casualties to the attackers (the cumulative grenade strikes a shock wave and debris around the radius of 4 meters, which is comparable to the striking action of a hand grenade), but also created an inevitable temporary confusion that gave the attackers a chance development success. Armored vehicles, even with good dynamic protection, were knocked out by a focused 2-3 RPG-7 fire on a single target. This grenade launcher was very successfully used against helicopters, and according to some of it was shot down over the entire time of military use around 150 vehicles, including 128 helicopters in Vietnam.
In general, such an application of grenade launchers, originally intended to destroy armored vehicles, for a variety of purposes, in my opinion, was typical of weapons of this type from the very moment of their appearance and use in war. All kinds of Panzerfaust and Bazuki were very often used to suppress machine gun points. The Chinese copy of the RPG-2 was widely used by the Khmer Rouge against the troops of Lon Nol, and was a substitute for guns and mortars. I did not conduct a thorough analysis of the experience of using hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers, but also from what caught my eye in the course of studying various materials and publications, it is quite enough to add up such an idea. A hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher on the battlefield becomes a versatile pocket gun for infantry.
In the light of this circumstance, it is impossible not to be surprised that the splinter-explosive fragmentation grenade OG-7В “The Shard” appeared in service only in the 1999 year. Although at the beginning of the 1970-ies did not exist newsthat cumulative RPGs to RPGs are often used as high-explosive fragmentation weapons. Subsequent wars only confirmed this. Nothing prevented even in those days to develop a whole line of grenades of various types and purposes, especially since the design of the grenades for the RPG-7 itself permits a modular approach: you could install any warhead on a powder accelerator or an accelerator with a jet engine. in size and weight.
OG-7V "Shard", nicknamed "Pencil" - a very good grenade. Compared with a cumulative grenade, it has a very simple design.
This attitude to military experience is hard for me to name, staying within the framework of printed decorum. Probably like this: stubborn stupidity, forcing tenaciously to hold on to cumulative grenades. The most interesting thing is that this stubbornness is now quite a place. Here is from the recent. Artisanal hybrids of PG-7В with 82-mm mortar mines, fragmentation charges for LNG-9, as well as attempts to create something like a fragmentation grenade as the head part began to appear in the Ukrainian army. Not everything and not always worked and exploded, which is not surprising for homemade products. Reaction: "crazy hands of Ukrainians." In my opinion, this is the most illustrative example when a commentator signs his stubborn dictum, and in combination with arrogance.
From the same fact it is possible, and, in my opinion, should draw other conclusions. Firstly, the need for high-explosive fragmentation grenades to the RPG-7 is so great and significant that it makes resort to risky amateur scrubs. Secondly, the handicrafts are resorted to when the arising task is no more than other types and types of weapons, and nothing from the available infantry arsenal is suitable for it. Thirdly, why not connect the 82-mm mortar mine (for example O-832) with a PG-7B engine? The mortar mine is a very weighty argument; it hits living force in the radius of 60 meters, which is much better than that of a hand grenade or a cumulative grenade launcher that was not used for its intended purpose. The weight of the mortar mine 3,6 kg, that is, the firing range of this hybrid will be approximately at the level of the PG-7BP tandem grenade - about 200 meters. For trench or urban battles is quite suitable.
It turns out a good hybrid of grenades and 82-mm mortar mines
If we neglect the stupidity and arrogance, recognize that there is a need for various grenades to RPG-7 and it is very great, then by crossing the engine and accelerator from PG-7В with different warheads, you can create a fairly wide range of grenades suitable for different tasks.
I will not specifically consider the design of the PG-7В jet engine, although I will note that it clearly needs to be simplified and rationalized, since a precisely-milled nozzle part is a real punishment for military production. It is surprising that the product of such a complex shape fell into the design of a grenade, one of the consumables of war.
Nozzle close up. The designers implemented the original solution, which was required by the overall layout of the grenade launcher, putting the nozzle in front of the combustion chamber, and not behind, with the turn of the jet back. But this detail will clearly be a bottleneck in high-flow production in wartime.
The subject of my interest is the head of the grenade. The requirements for it are about as follows. Weight ranges from 1,5 to 3,5 kg, but it is better not to exceed 2 kg. Caliber to 105 mm, but it is better to keep the caliber 80-90 mm. Form streamlined for better aerodynamic characteristics.
High-explosive and high-explosive fragmentation warheads
Despite the fact that the FG-7В is very good, I am still a supporter of more powerful grenades, and the grenade is predominantly high-explosive. This may be a charge of explosive placed in a thin-walled case (biconical or cylindrical with a conical fairing) and fitted with a percussion-type fuse. The weight of the explosive charge can reach 1,5-1,8 kg. You can refer to the Geneva Convention, but in a big (world) war, when existence is at stake, conventions are usually not respected, and all effective means are good for armed struggle.
In the conditions of a large and long-lasting war, with the strain of the entire economy, business will surely reach the ultimate simplified and most technological ammunition. The body of the head of such a grenade can be made of steel or plastic sheet, and if it really squeezes, then of thick cardboard, followed by impregnation with varnish for water resistance. I am in favor of using the technology of manufacturing PET bottles. The tubular billet, at the ends of which nests are formed for the fuse and fastener with the engine, swells up in shape to the desired size and shape. Plastic shells for high-explosive grenades can be very diverse and manufactured using different technologies. Details would take too much space, but offhand you can offer 5-6 or even up to a dozen options for plastic cases. Fragmentation element can, for example, fall asleep in the body, in its nose, before pouring or filling the explosives.
The advantage of a high-explosive grenade is that it allows, if necessary, to move from the oxyethanol used now in garnets to TNT, then to the mixture of TNT with ammonium nitrate, and then to various explosive mixtures based on ammonium nitrate. In the conditions of a big war, there is usually a shortage of explosives, which can lead to resort to such cheap substitutes.
In terms of manpower, fire points, unarmored or lightly armored vehicles, as well as for stripping premises in urban combat (for example, before a storm of a building, high-explosive charges are thrown at the windows by grenade launchers) such a grenade will be quite effective.
As for the high-explosive frag grenades, in my opinion, the best solution is to equip a high-explosive grenade with ready-made fragmentation elements: balls, wire cuts, nails (a plastic strip into which pressed steel nails of the same size as steel wire can be pressed fragmentation addition to the cumulative grenade).
Incendiary MS
If in such a thin-walled case, steel or plastic, instead of explosives, incend incendiary mixtures, such as CS, BGS or napalm, equipped with an ignition igniter or ignite when in contact with air (COP was a solution of white phosphorus and sulfur in carbon disulfide; the composition ignited when the bottle broke and the mixture was in contact with air), then you get a very good incendiary grenade.
It is not so difficult to create a thermite incendiary grenade. Incendiary air bombs from the Second World War can be the prototype of the thermite warhead They just fit in size and weight.
There may be a combination of options when a high-temperature thermite component is added to a liquid incendiary mixture or sticky gel.
Although the cumulative grenades PG-7V can no longer cope with modern tanks, which was the reason for the development of specialized tandem grenades, as well as specialized grenade launchers, however, it is too early for RPG-7 to write off as an anti-tank weapon. Liquid and thermite incendiary grenades can be a solution to the problem. It is clear that the solution will be partial. At the same time incendiary grenades can be used for other purposes, especially in urban combat.
Anti-aircraft warhead
Since the RPG-7 is sometimes used to hit air targets, helicopters and airplanes, it would probably be advisable to try to develop an anti-aircraft grenade. Such a grenade can be high-explosive fragmented, equipped with arrow-shaped attacking elements, and it can be equipped, like anti-aircraft missiles, with two fuses: contact and non-contact.
The biggest problem, in my opinion, is to develop a proximity fuze, which would be relatively light at the same time within 100-150 grams (a laser non-contact sensor 9М113 SAM for Tungusk SAM weighs 800 grams), is relatively cheap, and at the same time provides satisfactory performance. If such a proximity fuse is already or will be created, then the anti-aircraft grenade becomes a reality.
A typical enemy for a grenade launcher with an anti-aircraft grenade will most likely be unmanned aerial vehicles. At the same time, it remains possible to fire and destroy a larger airborne target, for example, a helicopter or a turboprop attack aircraft, which began to appear among our probable opponents.
This, of course, is far from a complete list of possible options for grenades to RPG-7, especially since in each type it is possible to offer several options that differ in TTX and are adapted for different purposes. The development of such grenades may seem useless and unnecessary to someone. In my opinion, these developments significantly expand the possibilities of using the RPG-7, equip the infantry with more diverse means of fire destruction of the enemy, and also greatly increase the mobilization potential. In the worst case, when the war did not go according to plan and brought the economy to exhaustion, it was the grenade launchers with the grenades described above that would become the most mass ersatz artillery allowing infantry, albeit with difficulties, to solve the tasks facing it.
RPG-7 in the hands of a Vietnamese soldier
In my opinion, his military biography is far from over, and it is this grenade launcher that has every chance of becoming one of the most widespread types of weapons in a major war. This article is devoted to this aspect. Due to the fact that the topic is extensive and has many details and nuances that are interesting in and of themselves, I will briefly describe, dwelling only on the essential points.
Universal "pocket gun"
Despite the fact that RPG-7, like its predecessor RPG-2, was created to combat armored vehicles, and only cumulative grenades were made for both grenade launchers for a long time, however, experience in its use clearly shows that RPG-7 was without prior order It becomes a universal wearable recoilless gun, used against armored vehicles, and against unarmored vehicles, and against firing points, and against manpower.
There are many examples of this. Afghan Mujahideen and Chechen fighters (from 50 to 80% of the fighters had RPG-7) usually began their attacks with a massive grenade strike. The sudden shelling of several or even dozens of grenade launchers not only caused casualties to the attackers (the cumulative grenade strikes a shock wave and debris around the radius of 4 meters, which is comparable to the striking action of a hand grenade), but also created an inevitable temporary confusion that gave the attackers a chance development success. Armored vehicles, even with good dynamic protection, were knocked out by a focused 2-3 RPG-7 fire on a single target. This grenade launcher was very successfully used against helicopters, and according to some of it was shot down over the entire time of military use around 150 vehicles, including 128 helicopters in Vietnam.
In general, such an application of grenade launchers, originally intended to destroy armored vehicles, for a variety of purposes, in my opinion, was typical of weapons of this type from the very moment of their appearance and use in war. All kinds of Panzerfaust and Bazuki were very often used to suppress machine gun points. The Chinese copy of the RPG-2 was widely used by the Khmer Rouge against the troops of Lon Nol, and was a substitute for guns and mortars. I did not conduct a thorough analysis of the experience of using hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers, but also from what caught my eye in the course of studying various materials and publications, it is quite enough to add up such an idea. A hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher on the battlefield becomes a versatile pocket gun for infantry.
In the light of this circumstance, it is impossible not to be surprised that the splinter-explosive fragmentation grenade OG-7В “The Shard” appeared in service only in the 1999 year. Although at the beginning of the 1970-ies did not exist newsthat cumulative RPGs to RPGs are often used as high-explosive fragmentation weapons. Subsequent wars only confirmed this. Nothing prevented even in those days to develop a whole line of grenades of various types and purposes, especially since the design of the grenades for the RPG-7 itself permits a modular approach: you could install any warhead on a powder accelerator or an accelerator with a jet engine. in size and weight.
OG-7V "Shard", nicknamed "Pencil" - a very good grenade. Compared with a cumulative grenade, it has a very simple design.
This attitude to military experience is hard for me to name, staying within the framework of printed decorum. Probably like this: stubborn stupidity, forcing tenaciously to hold on to cumulative grenades. The most interesting thing is that this stubbornness is now quite a place. Here is from the recent. Artisanal hybrids of PG-7В with 82-mm mortar mines, fragmentation charges for LNG-9, as well as attempts to create something like a fragmentation grenade as the head part began to appear in the Ukrainian army. Not everything and not always worked and exploded, which is not surprising for homemade products. Reaction: "crazy hands of Ukrainians." In my opinion, this is the most illustrative example when a commentator signs his stubborn dictum, and in combination with arrogance.
From the same fact it is possible, and, in my opinion, should draw other conclusions. Firstly, the need for high-explosive fragmentation grenades to the RPG-7 is so great and significant that it makes resort to risky amateur scrubs. Secondly, the handicrafts are resorted to when the arising task is no more than other types and types of weapons, and nothing from the available infantry arsenal is suitable for it. Thirdly, why not connect the 82-mm mortar mine (for example O-832) with a PG-7B engine? The mortar mine is a very weighty argument; it hits living force in the radius of 60 meters, which is much better than that of a hand grenade or a cumulative grenade launcher that was not used for its intended purpose. The weight of the mortar mine 3,6 kg, that is, the firing range of this hybrid will be approximately at the level of the PG-7BP tandem grenade - about 200 meters. For trench or urban battles is quite suitable.
It turns out a good hybrid of grenades and 82-mm mortar mines
If we neglect the stupidity and arrogance, recognize that there is a need for various grenades to RPG-7 and it is very great, then by crossing the engine and accelerator from PG-7В with different warheads, you can create a fairly wide range of grenades suitable for different tasks.
I will not specifically consider the design of the PG-7В jet engine, although I will note that it clearly needs to be simplified and rationalized, since a precisely-milled nozzle part is a real punishment for military production. It is surprising that the product of such a complex shape fell into the design of a grenade, one of the consumables of war.
Nozzle close up. The designers implemented the original solution, which was required by the overall layout of the grenade launcher, putting the nozzle in front of the combustion chamber, and not behind, with the turn of the jet back. But this detail will clearly be a bottleneck in high-flow production in wartime.
The subject of my interest is the head of the grenade. The requirements for it are about as follows. Weight ranges from 1,5 to 3,5 kg, but it is better not to exceed 2 kg. Caliber to 105 mm, but it is better to keep the caliber 80-90 mm. Form streamlined for better aerodynamic characteristics.
High-explosive and high-explosive fragmentation warheads
Despite the fact that the FG-7В is very good, I am still a supporter of more powerful grenades, and the grenade is predominantly high-explosive. This may be a charge of explosive placed in a thin-walled case (biconical or cylindrical with a conical fairing) and fitted with a percussion-type fuse. The weight of the explosive charge can reach 1,5-1,8 kg. You can refer to the Geneva Convention, but in a big (world) war, when existence is at stake, conventions are usually not respected, and all effective means are good for armed struggle.
In the conditions of a large and long-lasting war, with the strain of the entire economy, business will surely reach the ultimate simplified and most technological ammunition. The body of the head of such a grenade can be made of steel or plastic sheet, and if it really squeezes, then of thick cardboard, followed by impregnation with varnish for water resistance. I am in favor of using the technology of manufacturing PET bottles. The tubular billet, at the ends of which nests are formed for the fuse and fastener with the engine, swells up in shape to the desired size and shape. Plastic shells for high-explosive grenades can be very diverse and manufactured using different technologies. Details would take too much space, but offhand you can offer 5-6 or even up to a dozen options for plastic cases. Fragmentation element can, for example, fall asleep in the body, in its nose, before pouring or filling the explosives.
The advantage of a high-explosive grenade is that it allows, if necessary, to move from the oxyethanol used now in garnets to TNT, then to the mixture of TNT with ammonium nitrate, and then to various explosive mixtures based on ammonium nitrate. In the conditions of a big war, there is usually a shortage of explosives, which can lead to resort to such cheap substitutes.
In terms of manpower, fire points, unarmored or lightly armored vehicles, as well as for stripping premises in urban combat (for example, before a storm of a building, high-explosive charges are thrown at the windows by grenade launchers) such a grenade will be quite effective.
As for the high-explosive frag grenades, in my opinion, the best solution is to equip a high-explosive grenade with ready-made fragmentation elements: balls, wire cuts, nails (a plastic strip into which pressed steel nails of the same size as steel wire can be pressed fragmentation addition to the cumulative grenade).
Incendiary MS
If in such a thin-walled case, steel or plastic, instead of explosives, incend incendiary mixtures, such as CS, BGS or napalm, equipped with an ignition igniter or ignite when in contact with air (COP was a solution of white phosphorus and sulfur in carbon disulfide; the composition ignited when the bottle broke and the mixture was in contact with air), then you get a very good incendiary grenade.
It is not so difficult to create a thermite incendiary grenade. Incendiary air bombs from the Second World War can be the prototype of the thermite warhead They just fit in size and weight.
There may be a combination of options when a high-temperature thermite component is added to a liquid incendiary mixture or sticky gel.
Although the cumulative grenades PG-7V can no longer cope with modern tanks, which was the reason for the development of specialized tandem grenades, as well as specialized grenade launchers, however, it is too early for RPG-7 to write off as an anti-tank weapon. Liquid and thermite incendiary grenades can be a solution to the problem. It is clear that the solution will be partial. At the same time incendiary grenades can be used for other purposes, especially in urban combat.
Anti-aircraft warhead
Since the RPG-7 is sometimes used to hit air targets, helicopters and airplanes, it would probably be advisable to try to develop an anti-aircraft grenade. Such a grenade can be high-explosive fragmented, equipped with arrow-shaped attacking elements, and it can be equipped, like anti-aircraft missiles, with two fuses: contact and non-contact.
The biggest problem, in my opinion, is to develop a proximity fuze, which would be relatively light at the same time within 100-150 grams (a laser non-contact sensor 9М113 SAM for Tungusk SAM weighs 800 grams), is relatively cheap, and at the same time provides satisfactory performance. If such a proximity fuse is already or will be created, then the anti-aircraft grenade becomes a reality.
A typical enemy for a grenade launcher with an anti-aircraft grenade will most likely be unmanned aerial vehicles. At the same time, it remains possible to fire and destroy a larger airborne target, for example, a helicopter or a turboprop attack aircraft, which began to appear among our probable opponents.
This, of course, is far from a complete list of possible options for grenades to RPG-7, especially since in each type it is possible to offer several options that differ in TTX and are adapted for different purposes. The development of such grenades may seem useless and unnecessary to someone. In my opinion, these developments significantly expand the possibilities of using the RPG-7, equip the infantry with more diverse means of fire destruction of the enemy, and also greatly increase the mobilization potential. In the worst case, when the war did not go according to plan and brought the economy to exhaustion, it was the grenade launchers with the grenades described above that would become the most mass ersatz artillery allowing infantry, albeit with difficulties, to solve the tasks facing it.
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