Frag Out! Magazine

Frag Out! Magazine #29

Frag Out! Magazine

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ZSSW-30 turret is a performance pinnacle of armament development in Poland. The Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW) product is a unique solution. No attempt has been ever made in the history of the Polish defense industry, after the war, to domestically build a weapons system so sophisticated and complex. The story of the system cannot be told in isolation from the trends and tendencies present in the states leading the pack of manufacturers of solutions as such. The first two parts of the article would scrutinize this matter. Changes over 40 years A gradual transfer of firepower, within the mechanized platoon structure, from the troops to the IFV, has been happening since the 1970s. Originally, several reasons for that emerged, starting from the necessity to work on the nuclear battlefield, finishing with greater saturation of the battlespace with a modern solution at the lowest levels of the command chain, with a hope to extensively increase the company- and battalion level firepower. The trend has been significantly accelerated over the last two decades. However, the causes have been different here. The first one was seen in the professionalizing of the Western militaries. This also entailed a drastic decrease in the number of military personnel. This forced the authorities to introduce personnel cuts at the platoon levels, even if the structure remained virtually unchanged. The reduced number of troops carried by the vehicles also made the smaller platoons less and less efficient in autonomous completion of even the most basic operations. At the same time, the limited firepower of the troops carried by the vehicle and running along could be compensated for by the vehicles to a degree high enough, to increase the total firepower of a platoon-sized element. Several new and upgraded IFVs have received fire control systems coupled with thermal imagers (not only the sight). Accuracy when on the move was also improved. Finally, new, more effective ammunition has also been developed. As the armed forces around the world have become more professionalized, a www.fragoutmag.com

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