Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1086092
have been limited. It's important to mention that a next generation of Belma's mines is being currently implemented, including the "smart" minefields based on sensors and means of communication, group- ing many effectors such as the EFP-based off-route MPBK-ZN mines (able to deal with up to 100 mm of steel from 50 m), SPPŁW mines (50 mm from 50 m), and anti-personnel grenade launchers. These are very promising solutions, much needed at the Polish Armed Forces, and manufactured 'on the spot'. It's also necessary to mention Belma's scatter-mining vehicles such as the Baobab-K, which may eventually see the light of day after many years. Also, it's a pity that the Jarzębi- na-S smart minefield program (involving the use of Belma's effectors) has been in progress for 10 years now and is set to end only close to the end of 2019. It's yet another example proving how inefficient the particular stages of developing and acquiring armaments and military equipment for the Polish Armed Forces are. It is also a pity that Po- land has ratified the Ottawa Treaty (aka the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention), highly harmful from the military point of view, especially since our eastern neighbors give no damn whatsoever about it and keep on using millions of anti-personnel mines and many means to transfer them – including air-based and artillery means. Another area where the Polish military industry has something to say is the area of pure artillery solutions. This is to mean, of course, DPICM ammunition – it is manufactured in Poland and our industry has a full range of intellectual property rights thereto. We're talking about the high-explosive dual-purpose GKO-1 grenade (38 mm, like the American M42, but 30 mm longer, which guaran- tees a better effective distance of the high-explo- sive load) As a result, the GKO-1 is able to clear 120 mm of steel, and its maximum penetration can be over 130 mm. As a DPICM submuni- tion of the said caliber, its performance is excellent. The lethal shell- burst radius is up to 7 m. GKOs are used with the 122 mm Hesyt-1 cluster projectile, with a shell with a cluster projectile for a 98 mm mortar, with a shell with a cluster projectile for a 120 mm mortar, and with a 122 mm cluster projectile for the BM-21 and RM-70 launchers. The Hesyt-1 has been already implemented operationally. It carries 20 submunitions over a distance of up to 15 km and features an elec- tronic time fuse. So far, only a small batch of these projectiles has been purchased – which makes it surprising to see no larger orders with our 2S1 Goździks being still in use. The other implemented car- rier of DPICM is the 122 mm cluster projectile for rocket launchers. Originally it carried 42 submunitions over a distance of up to 17,400 m and featured a time discharge fuse. Its development version – the www.fragoutmag.com