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ATGMs and RPGs for infantry - a thread for rebels around the world to choose their ATGM supplier.


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On ‎25‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 2:49 AM, Renegade334 said:

@Mighty_Zuk: this "little" baby would've been an even niftier toy, sheer size and lack of high maneuvrability put aside.

The space opera SFX would bring a smile to the gunner every time...

 

How would it fare against NERA, compared to a regular APFSDS? (let's say a DM-53 or M829A2)

 

On ‎25‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 1:10 PM, Mighty_Zuk said:

It would probably not fare well against tanks even at its maximum range where it is supposed to have the highest level of penetration, unless it can side shot. But it's probably really cheap compared to existing HEAT based ATGMs, which is something. 

Problem is, it's not dual purpose, which could definitely be the reason it was cancelled. Realistically, while ATGMs have very clearly the "Anti Tank" in their name, their by far most prolific use is against soft targets.

 

So yeah, just a waste of money here. Great for gaming purposes though.

Advertising has it hitting 1.5km/s in 5 seconds, so it should do as well as a standard KEP. Better, if you can sling a thicker, longer penetrator than current-gen 120mm APDSFS.

Dual use is a problem. Then again, a missile that big impacting a structure is going to leave a mark no matter what. True dual purpose should be as simple as sticking a charge somewhere in the body to either blow up inside the target or prefragment the missile body just prior to impact.

 

My guess regarding adoption is that; 1. it is a 3 metre long missile with roughly the capability of Javelin, 2. being lower-cost has not been the sort of winner you'd expect in US miliary purchasing history, and 3. popping tanks has not, as you point out, been much of a necessity for the US military since about 2003.  

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31 minutes ago, Xlucine said:

A PELE version for softer targets?

= another 3 metre long missile to cart around. Or adapting the design to include hot-swappable warheads.

 

I wonder if they might have had better luck with a top-attack version, but can't think of a way to make that work without more expensive electronics. I guess the third option is to use a really cheap and simple guidance system  (beam rider perhaps?) and just shoot three 1m long/165mm wide rockets out of the same tube. Even without sophisticated shaped charge designs that's going to leave a mark.

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Make a segmented penetrator design with a break-off tip to foil K5-type ERA, like the M829A3.  Have the break-off tip be a PELE, while the rest is a normal KEP.

There, dual purpose missile.

These high-speed ATGMs seem like a fine idea.  The operator needs to spend a lot less time guiding the missile to the target, which means in practice a whole lot less getting shot.

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21 minutes ago, Collimatrix said:

Make a segmented penetrator design with a break-off tip to foil K5-type ERA, like the M829A3.  Have the break-off tip be a PELE, while the rest is a normal KEP.

There, dual purpose missile.

These high-speed ATGMs seem like a fine idea.  The operator needs to spend a lot less time guiding the missile to the target, which means in practice a whole lot less getting shot.

Any idea what the cheapest guidance approach is?

 

Edit: I'm thinking we already have a page like this, but if not could we move all the LOSAT stuff to a 'KEP missile love thread' or something?

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What about a two stage swingfire-like top attack missile? 

Launch the missile upwards around 45-70 degrees with the first booster, then ignite the second soild-fuel rocket to accelerate it towards the target. If the arch is high enough, then it should simply need to be pointed towards the target and it would hit it at 30 degrees, from horizontal. 

But all things considered, wouldn't KEP missiles be quite bulky? Thereby limiting them to long range AT role, most likely vehicle mounted.

But I have to say, 3 meter long missile sounds like a pain in the ass to work with for a AFV designer, if you want to protect the missile.

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4 minutes ago, Xoon said:

What about a two stage swingfire-like top attack missile? 

Launch the missile upwards around 45-70 degrees with the first booster, then ignite the second soild-fuel rocket to accelerate it towards the target. If the arch is high enough, then it should simply need to be pointed towards the target and it would hit it at 30 degrees, from horizontal. 

But all things considered, wouldn't KEP missiles be quite bulky? Thereby limiting them to long range AT role, most likely vehicle mounted.

But I have to say, 3 meter long missile sounds like a pain in the ass to work with for a AFV designer, if you want to protect the missile.

Already proposed :) 

On ‎27‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 3:45 PM, Toxn said:

= another 3 metre long missile to cart around. Or adapting the design to include hot-swappable warheads.

 

I wonder if they might have had better luck with a top-attack version, but can't think of a way to make that work without more expensive electronics. I guess the third option is to use a really cheap and simple guidance system  (beam rider perhaps?) and just shoot three 1m long/165mm wide rockets out of the same tube. Even without sophisticated shaped charge designs that's going to leave a mark.

KEP missiles would be bulky, but you can always hang them outside the crew armour compartment and resign yourself to losing them if things go wrong.

Top attack should be a lot less bulky, and thermal imaging for guidance gets cheaper all the time. I'm accordingly going to guess that something Strix might actually catch on for dedicated anti-tank applications.

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30 minutes ago, Collimatrix said:

Make a segmented penetrator design with a break-off tip to foil K5-type ERA, like the M829A3.  Have the break-off tip be a PELE, while the rest is a normal KEP.

There, dual purpose missile.

These high-speed ATGMs seem like a fine idea.  The operator needs to spend a lot less time guiding the missile to the target, which means in practice a whole lot less getting shot.

The killer app would be something relatively small, cheap and simple to use. Is there any chance that you could make an accurate unguided KEP missile? Or something that just flies in a straight line from the launcher using a few cellphone gyros?

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So.

A while ago Colli asked me whether you can shape stabilise a long rod. I booted up Solidworks and went to work. One thing led to another, and we ended up at this:

REWSynB.jpg

And if you wonder that in the shit that is, that's an Armour Piercing Shape Stabilised Ramjet Assisted Discarding Sabot shell.

That's right, we put a Ramjet on a long rod penetrator.

The thing I'm not completely sure about is the shape stabilisation, which we use to 'feed' the air into the ramjet. Using shape stabilisation should allow us to not run any other form of stabilisation so we don't have to bother with collapsable fins or things that eat up case volume. The ramjet uses an aerospike nozzle instead of a bell-nozzle. This is done for a couple of reasons. For one we can't use the centre of the shell because it's taken by the penetrator, and two, it might allow us to steer the shell by blocking the flow through one side of the aerospike. But we're not really sure if that's practically possible.

Side view:

clo2c0p.png

Inside:

BpsyOof.png

Detail shot:

7C3UMB7.png

Note that this is a very crude model. A finished model would have a different inlet, different aerospike, etc etc. There's room in the front and back for guidance and stuff.

White stuff = fuel. 

A very simple calculation done by Colli told us that this design would give us a velocity of... I believe it was in the range of Mach 8-10 if I remember correctly.

Basically what you're doing is using a tank gun to get the projectile to a velocity where (sc)ramjets work, so you don't have to bother with booster rockets to get to the very high Mach numbers but instead use a gun to do so. Furthermore, we thought of making the penetrator thinner than the conventional long rod penetrators. If you're above the hydrodynamic limit for a lot of materials the thickness doesn't really matter, so we thought about using a rod that's about the same diameter as a HEAT jet. And depending on the engagement distance the shell will still have an amount of fuel left, which can act as an incendiary. If you're shooting at a distance where you've run out of fuel, you're probably shooting at tanks anyway, for which a long rod alone can be enough to disable it.

 

 

This has been written from memory, so I might have a few details off.
Also good job Colli moving this discussion to the infantry tools section, just when we start talking about tank shells. :lol:

 

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1 hour ago, Toxn said:

I'm accordingly going to guess that something Strix might actually catch on for dedicated anti-tank applications.

I'd like to see a 2-3" very lightweight guided mortar fulfil the role of organic HE fire that sturgeon likes, as with the larger HE fill (larger than the 40mm guided stuff anyway) you're making better use of the expensive guidance fuse.

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On 04.03.2017 at 9:04 PM, Ramlaen said:

*pics*

From what system is this sight?

 

Quote

That is one great image. Islamic State 9M113 Konkurs ATGM striking a SyAA T-55, Wilayat Halab.

C6Eq9f6WAAACYmC.jpg

And Konkurs ATGM used by Ru SSO against ISIS near Palmyra:

C6LQM4sWgAEMQxU.jpg

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On 2/28/2017 at 6:26 AM, Toxn said:

The killer app would be something relatively small, cheap and simple to use. Is there any chance that you could make an accurate unguided KEP missile? Or something that just flies in a straight line from the launcher using a few cellphone gyros?

Toxn,

Swizzlestick... OF DEATH

I give you the North American aviation / Morton-Thiokol swizzlestick hypervelocity rocket!

9000 fps, surprisingly light, stupid low projected manufacturing cost per shot, capable of shoulder vehicle and aerial launch. 

I found what I think might be a follow on project called the Arbalist hypervelocity rocket from the 70's or a bit later too.

Weirdly, I seem to have an odd connection and love for weapons projects and vehicles that bear the Arbalest name, or variations on this name.

1. Arbalist hypervelocity rocket

2. Arbalest box wing COIN thing along the lines of OV-10 but sexier

3. Tkb-0249 crossbow/Arbalet... You can't hate this little beast full and semiautomatic ags-17/30 grenades in a drum magazine... For those days when the Barrett just isn't quite enough! Seriously I've thought of this one a lot WRT hilltop ambushers in places like Afghanistan and urban combat both, the ability to lob stuff up over parapets and drop plunging fire down into the rock piles people hide behind to launch PKM ambushes. I'm likely wrong, but to me firing HE up and over the rocks makes more sense than trying to fire into the openings in the rocks using a 240 on a bipod!

 

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Results of tests of Israeli ATGM Spike in India could be fabricated

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   According to the French bulletin Intelligence online in the material "Tirs de missiles sous la ceinture entre americains et israeliens", the contract that the Israeli company Rafael received in India can be revised due to the intrigues of American rivals.

   According to the newsletter, India's Defense Minister Manohar Parricar (now retired) recently ordered an internal investigation into possible fraud during the testing of Spike-LR anti-tank guided missiles, which the Israeli company Rafael produces. In May 2016, the Israelis won a tender for the supply of ATGMs of the Indian army worth $ 600 million.

   Suspicions that the test results were rigged began to spread widely in the Ministry of Defense of India by several consultants who in the past were officers of the Indian army. They currently work for two Indian consulting companies that specialize in defense matters and who have contracts with US defense firms. The first of these companies, Argus, is owned by Sundaru Mulshandani and has been supporting Raytheon for a long time. The second one is called Dua Associates and helps Lockheed Martin to deal with local legislation issues and also promotes "business development". These two giants of the US military-industrial complex also participated in a tender for the supply of ATGMs (with the Javelin ATGMs manufactured by them), but were excluded from it, primarily because of the refusal to transfer the production technologies to the local industry. Initially, the request for proposals was sent to companies Rafael, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, MBDA and Rosoboronexport. 

   Jufding to complaints filed by the Indian partners of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, Rafael could potentially use dishonest methods to hide the shortcomings of the Spike-LR ATGMs during tests that took place in 2015 at various Indian test ranges. Rafael, it is believed, then turned to several members of the committee to assess the testing of missiles in order to convince them at any cost (first of all, by financial methods) to choose a Spike-LR missile. This fact can explain the difference in the characteristics obtained in the test reports and the final report, prepared by the Indian Army Headquarters a few months later.

 

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