Professional Soldiers ® - View Single Post - One misunderstood, the other; wish we had?

08-05-2005, 18:48

On top of what TR and Peregrino have stated, I think the RPG is the way to go with infantry at all levels. You are not restricted by bore size for the size of your warhead and it's PG & OG series rockets have room for SF/QP "Field Modification(s)". Ambush Master can really attest to this fact with his "porcupine" rounds he used in SOG. With the size of the OG rounds you could probably wrap the thing in BB's or something similar and duct tape it all to give it more fragmentation on top of what it already has.

On a side note, Bulgaria seems to be the country to watch for future development and PIP's on the rocket portion of the weapon/RPG. They have already tested, fielded, and placed on the market a "Thermobaric" round. I saw a short video clip of it in action a while back. Seems to be a very nasty weapon for MOUT and with its design being purposely built for that type of ops, I am suprised that none of them have surfaced in Iraq or Afghanistan. The video clip shows it being used on what appears to have been a wood framed structure. Therefore the blast was much more spectacular than when they used it on a more solid structure (second part of the clip). I will go back and try and locate the clip and post it here for everyone to see how these rounds work. The principal behind these rounds is like that of the old FAE's of the 60's. Chemical, Binary or otherwise, is emitted out of the rocket warhead creating an instantaneous vapor when the nose come into contact with something solid. Almost immediately the vapor mixes with the right amount of air in the target (complex way) then it is all set off by a delay fuze. This creates incredible blast "overpressures" within the structure, killing everybody inside and literally blowing up and out the room or building.

Here is what they look like:

http://www.ciar.org/~ttk/mbt/article...10104_2_n.html

Rifle Grenades are now made of polymers with most of the metal going towards the fuze and body (sometimes). The "bullet Thru" and the "Bullet Trap" have taken over the market and it is somewhat "rare" to find the old style that have to be launched using what is commonly called a Ballistite round. Weight is not a problem these days. The problem lies with how to carry them. Most will carry them in a quiver style bag or strapped to their web gear or vest (the Serbs and Croations secure them to their vests and even had special vests made up for just that purpose). I have seen some Latin American and South American countries just secure them any way they can on their person, usually tied to the belt or taped to the shoulder harnesses. With the two aforementioned types of launching methods, there IMHO (and uneducated), no real reason for not using them. The biggest reason to use them is cost effectiveness. Practice RG's can be reused over and over again with long lifes afforded to rubber and polymer constructions. Practice rounds for the 40mm can only be used once and at one time were expensive to make, still are but not as much as they used to. I am referring to the ones that had a small explosive charge in the nose with dye. Peregrino, TR, and others, you will know more about this than me (could they have been designated M382?). Anyways, we move on to "casualty radius". The 40mm HEDP has one of 5-9 meters. A RG on the other hand can up that to approximately 15 meters (some of the older style Israeli BT/AP-AT APERS-HEAT's are 20 meters). The Yugoslavian M60 AP RG has a similar radius. Once a "recruit" has had enough "time" on the range in order to achieve acceptable accuracy he/she then can be issued RG's for confict resolution when the time arrives. Factoring in the climate on the battlefield, the stress of being shot at I would think a person could at least put them through a window at 100 yards, knock out a squad at 200+ yards out in the open, and achieve at least a M/K on armor at shorter ranges out to 100 yards(?) What do you all think?

08-05-2005, 18:48	#33
MAB32 Guest Posts: n/a	On top of what TR and Peregrino have stated, I think the RPG is the way to go with infantry at all levels. You are not restricted by bore size for the size of your warhead and it's PG & OG series rockets have room for SF/QP "Field Modification(s)". Ambush Master can really attest to this fact with his "porcupine" rounds he used in SOG. With the size of the OG rounds you could probably wrap the thing in BB's or something similar and duct tape it all to give it more fragmentation on top of what it already has. On a side note, Bulgaria seems to be the country to watch for future development and PIP's on the rocket portion of the weapon/RPG. They have already tested, fielded, and placed on the market a "Thermobaric" round. I saw a short video clip of it in action a while back. Seems to be a very nasty weapon for MOUT and with its design being purposely built for that type of ops, I am suprised that none of them have surfaced in Iraq or Afghanistan. The video clip shows it being used on what appears to have been a wood framed structure. Therefore the blast was much more spectacular than when they used it on a more solid structure (second part of the clip). I will go back and try and locate the clip and post it here for everyone to see how these rounds work. The principal behind these rounds is like that of the old FAE's of the 60's. Chemical, Binary or otherwise, is emitted out of the rocket warhead creating an instantaneous vapor when the nose come into contact with something solid. Almost immediately the vapor mixes with the right amount of air in the target (complex way) then it is all set off by a delay fuze. This creates incredible blast "overpressures" within the structure, killing everybody inside and literally blowing up and out the room or building. Here is what they look like: http://www.ciar.org/~ttk/mbt/article...10104_2_n.html Rifle Grenades are now made of polymers with most of the metal going towards the fuze and body (sometimes). The "bullet Thru" and the "Bullet Trap" have taken over the market and it is somewhat "rare" to find the old style that have to be launched using what is commonly called a Ballistite round. Weight is not a problem these days. The problem lies with how to carry them. Most will carry them in a quiver style bag or strapped to their web gear or vest (the Serbs and Croations secure them to their vests and even had special vests made up for just that purpose). I have seen some Latin American and South American countries just secure them any way they can on their person, usually tied to the belt or taped to the shoulder harnesses. With the two aforementioned types of launching methods, there IMHO (and uneducated), no real reason for not using them. The biggest reason to use them is cost effectiveness. Practice RG's can be reused over and over again with long lifes afforded to rubber and polymer constructions. Practice rounds for the 40mm can only be used once and at one time were expensive to make, still are but not as much as they used to. I am referring to the ones that had a small explosive charge in the nose with dye. Peregrino, TR, and others, you will know more about this than me (could they have been designated M382?). Anyways, we move on to "casualty radius". The 40mm HEDP has one of 5-9 meters. A RG on the other hand can up that to approximately 15 meters (some of the older style Israeli BT/AP-AT APERS-HEAT's are 20 meters). The Yugoslavian M60 AP RG has a similar radius. Once a "recruit" has had enough "time" on the range in order to achieve acceptable accuracy he/she then can be issued RG's for confict resolution when the time arrives. Factoring in the climate on the battlefield, the stress of being shot at I would think a person could at least put them through a window at 100 yards, knock out a squad at 200+ yards out in the open, and achieve at least a M/K on armor at shorter ranges out to 100 yards(?) What do you all think?