Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1086092
primary armor of tanks. Examples include the German RGW-110 and Panzerfaust-3IT600 equipped with warheads with ERA-neutralizing precursors without initiation and with powerful primary warheads, able to clear e.g. the ERAWA-2 or Kontakt-5 and the front plate of the hull of the T-80U or T-72B m.1989. Another example is top-attack weapons, meaning NLAW grenade launchers or the American Predator SRAW. There are light ATGMs too, like the Spike-SR. But there are se- rious doubts as to whether such weapons are able to be any threat to vehicles with hard-kill active protection systems. And such systems are to be found on the Armata, the Kurganiec-25, the Bumerang... The second choice is to go for 'multipurposeness' at the cost of maintenance of smaller – but fully capable of dealing with 90% of targets – anti-tank solutions. These include supernumerary dispos- able grenade launchers, engaged on an as-necessary basis. Examples include the M72, the AT4 or the RGW9, with the first being the lightest but also the least ergonomic, and the last being the largest but offer- ing a selectable firing mode and being quite user-friendly. The Swed- ish AT4 is somewhere between the two. Another noteworthy solution is the Carl-Gustaf M4 – a conceptual recoilless weapon system, a bit dated and requiring a crew of two to be operated, but offering a broad range of ammunition; plus, its tandem grenades boast a really decent performance. What's more – the Swedish manufacturer is working on an ultra-light ATGM for the Carl-Gustaf M4, fired directly from the system, which is the Carl Gustaf Ultra Light Missile (ULM), designed with a range of 1,500-2,000 m and with guidance based on the war- head locking on the target before being fired. As a result, the CG M4 would not only be suitable for the current structure of platoons, but – combined with the ULM – could substitute the failed Pirat, and the wide range of ammunition would guarantee its effectiveness against various targets. But we should remember that resigning from a regular section of the RPG-7 gre- nade launcher or recoilless gun for additional- ly-engaged disposable launchers 'frees' two soldiers in the platoon structure, which is also something to bear in mind. Regardless of the direction our Land Forces will follow, two things are unquestionable. The first is that our domestic manufacturers have nothing interesting to offer here because our Armed Forces, chasing Loaras, Gepards, Gawrons, Wisłas, Orkas, and Kormorans, have wast- ed almost 25 years without initiating a program of development of a light anti-tank or universal grenade launcher. No clear requirements of the army and no time to develop and launch a no-nonsense program have both led to the situation where facing an urgent need to purchase anything, the Polish military industry has nothing to offer except for pretty visualizations and projects involving acquiring money from NCRD. At the same time, the potential order volume, meaning over 20,000 "disposables" over a few decades, makes a full Polonization of manufacturing and rights to the documentation and development of the selected solution or ammunition used with it a vital requirement. And this should be, in essence, the main criterion. Offers including manufacturing a tube-launcher alone and assembling the (mostly im- ported) "entire solution" should be treated as a joke given the range of needs of our Armed Forces. Unfortunately, we have a similar problem with the said heavy ATGM systems. Here, our domestic industry has got nothing interesting to offer either, but the extent of complexity of the issue seems to be way beyond our technological capacity. Whether we're stuck with Spikes or not is secondary to the needs to secure the costs of lifecycle and integration of weapons with next-generation platforms. The number of modern ATGM systems is disgracefully small – and it is noticeable. We should therefore expect some more or less thought-out actions taken by the end of the present decade. However, our industry can offer many really good engineering solu- tions (which are unjustly marginalized). We're talking mainly about Belma's products – anti-tank scatterable mines, hand-laid anti-tank mines, off-route mines – these are solutions manufactured in By- dgoszcz for many years, but the quantities ordered by MND so far LAND FORCES