Handguns

(semi-auto pistols and revolvers)

What is the modern handgun? Why is this piece of crafted metal and (recently) hard
plastics still in great demand not only in military forces and police departments ALL
around the world? The answers are: They are small, lightweight (well, most of them :-)
and provide good firepower; suitable, not only for defensive situations, but for offensive
ones, and even for medium game hunting. Of course, for each situation, careful choice of
the proper handgun AND ammunition must be made. Handguns are divided into a few
classes: semi-autos (or pistols), revolvers, and non-autos (single or multibarreled, single-
shot or magazine fed).
Revolvers got their name from the rotating (or Revolving) cylinder, which contains
cartridges. Usually the cylinder holds from 5 to 7 loads, although some .22 caliber
revolvers may contain up to 8-10 cartridges. Loads in the cylinder may be reloaded in 2
ways (depending on revolver design) - one by one, as, for example, the Colt PeaceKeeper
does (and almost all old-timers), or all simulateounosly - when the cylinder is switched to
the side or when the is frame "broke open."
Both revolvers and semi-autos have two main "action styles": Single action and Double
action.
Single Action means, that the Revolver must be manually cocked (and, thus, the cylinder
is rotated to the next cartridge) for each shot. This mode was the only one available in all
old-time revolvers (such as the Peacekeeper), and is still available in most double-action
revolvers. This mode improves accuracy but slows the fire rate. For Semi-autos, Single
Action means that the pistol must be manually cocked for the first shot (usually, this is
done by pulling the slide - this action cocks the hammer and feeds a cartridge into the
chamber). For the second, and all consecutive shots, cocking is done automatically, when
recoil force pulls back the slide.
Double Action for the Revolver means that the hammer for each (including the f irst)
shot is cocked by trigger pull (this action also rotates the cylinder to the next position).
This mode speeds up the firing rate and simplifies shooting actions, but greatly increases
trigger pull (from 2.2-4.4 lbs usually found in single-actions, to 8.8-12.2 lbs in double-
actions). For the Semi-autos, the hammer is usually cocked by trigger pull for the first
shot only; the second and the rest are done in single-action mode. However, first load
must be fed in the chamber by the slide pull. Some (most of them - compact) semi-autos
and revolvers employ Double-action-only mode, which cocks the trigger for each shot,
thus excluding single-action.
One of the biggest questions about handguns is: Why the Six-guns (a slang TERM for
Revolvers) are stil alive when there's a big lot of the very reliable and larger capacity
semi-auto handguns? The oldest answer is - reliability. Usually, given the same price (in
low- or mid-range of prices), the revolvers were more reliable, primarily, because of the
simplicity of the design. Today there's a lot of inexpensive semi-autos, that can hold
twice or even triple as much loads ready to fire, than the common sixguns. But revolvers
still alive. One of the main reasons to keep the revolver is that they're almost insencetive
to ammunition. If your cartridge is capable of pushing a bullet thru the barrel of the
sixgun - you got the working gun. No jams, no stoppages. Even in the case of the misfire
you just got to pull the trigger again - and next round will go. In semi-auto, you need
sufficient power to cycle the slide, thus rendering underpowered loads almost inoperable
in semi-autos. Also, in case of the misfire, or jam, you should manually cycle the slide to
fire the next round. In defensive scenario, this may cos you another second, and may be -
your life. So, in general, sixguns are far less sensetive to ammo quality, and, due to
simplicity and inherent design features, could withstand far more abuse. Also, when you
go to the other, high-end of the loads (speaking in the terms of power), no semi-autos
could withstand the power of loads such as .454casull or .475Linebaugh. Sixguns could.
Main drawbacks of the sixguns are small ammo capacity, slower reloading and bulkier
size. While 6 rounds may be sufficient for self-defence scenarios, it may be really
insufficient for the police or SpecOps actions. Also, replacing the magazine in semi-auto
ususlly is much faster process than reloading a revolvers' drum. And, due to significant
cylinder diameter, even the 5-shot revolvers are harder to carry concealed, than the
modern compact handguns, while the latter could hold tvice as much cartridges.
Final selection of the guns is, undoubtfully, the owners' responcebility, but, in my
opinion, revolvers are more suitable for civilians' self-defence and for hunting, while
semi-autos are better combat and police guns.

Submachine guns
a brief introduction

Estonian Special Forces personnel with HK MP5-SD silenced submachine guns


Villar-Perosa submachine gun in museum exposition
The submachine gun is an automatic or
selective-fired shoulder weapon that fires pistol-
caliber ammunition. The concept of submachine
gun dates back to World War One; the trench
warfare of this war required effective and
compact weapons for short-range fighting in
trenches; additionally, a lightweight and
maneuverable fully automatic weapon was
desirable to complement light machine guns in
both defensive and offensive scenarios, to cover
last 200 meters of assault on enemy positions.
The first weapon which can be considered to
some extent as the world's first submachine gun
was the Italian Villar-Perosa, which was a twin-
barreled automatic weapon that fired 9mm
Glisenti pistol ammunition from top-mounted
box magazines. It was compact, but its primary
tactical role was of short-range machine gun;
therefore it was usually fired from some sort of
mount, and fitted with machine-gun type spade
grips instead of more conventional rifle-type
stock.

The first true submachine gun was the Bergmann / Schmeisser MP.18,I, whic
saw some action during closing days of the Great war. This was a shoulder-fir
weapon, that set the basic pattern for all following weapons of its class. The in
war decades produced a significant number of submachine guns, but the tactic
niche for these weapons was still unclear for many military experts. It was the
Grand Chako war, the Spanish Civil war and Russo-Finnish Winter war of 19
that proved the viability of submachine guns as general-issue weapons for figh
troops. Nevertheless, regardless of the large number of available models, by th
start of World War Two in most armies submachine guns were relegated to
secondary role. For example, the very technically advanced Wehrmacht (Hitle
army) issued MP-38 and MP-40 submachine guns to infantry troops in propor
of about one SMG per ten bolt action rifles. It was the Red (Soviet) army whic
issued PPSh-41 submachine guns as primary infantry weapons to entire
companies and battalions. Despite the success of several new submachine gun
developed during the WW2, this war marked the start of decline of submachin
guns as primary infantry weapons. The appearance of assault rifle, which, whi
being only slightly heavier than most SMGs, had much longer effective range
an abrupt end to infantry use of submachine guns in Soviet army. On the othe
hand, the NATO countries still issued 9mm submachine guns to many non-
infantry units and certain soldiers in infantry (i.e. scouts, machine gun and mo
an police officer fires Schmeisser MP.18,I submachine gun crews etc) to complement relatively large and heavy semi-automatic or fully-
1920) automatic rifles firing powerful 7,62x51 NATO ammunition. The appearance
 wide distribution) of small-caliber assault rifles marked the final phase of hist
of submachine gun as general-issue infantry weapon.

American soldier fires Thompson submachine gun (WW2)

Despite of all said above, it must be noted that submachine guns still posses several
qualities that are very useful in certain military scenarios. For example, submachine guns
can be easily silenced, making them very useful for various special operations forces.
The police and security use of submachine guns, on the other hand, has been greatly
increased during last 30 or 40 years. Proliferation of international terrorism, drugs
trafficking, gang crime and other violent crimes forced many police forces to adopt a
variety of submachine guns for special police teams. Compact submachine guns, which
appeared during 1960's and 1970's, such as Micro-Uzi or HK MP5k, were quickly
adopted by various VIP protection teams that favored compact size combined with
massive short-range firepower of such guns. Of cause, the other side of the law also saw
benefits of submachine guns; for example, more than few gangsters, outlaws and
terrorists used various submachine guns, starting with "Chicago typewriter" (Thompson
submachine gun) and up to Czechoslovak Scorpion or Croatian Agram 2000.

Military rifles
This section is intended to give a brief overview of the general issue military rifles, used
by various nations during the XX century. This section is further divided into two
subsections - bolt action rifles and semi-automatic rifles.
 Bolt action rifles

s
e
Semi-automatic rifles differ from the manual repeaters in fact that semi-automatics used
some amount of the energy, generated by the each shot fired, to commence the reloading
cycle (extract and eject the spent case, feed a live round and lock the action, cock the
hammer or striker). Due to this, semi-automatic rifles are often referred as a self-loading
rifles, too. So, as long as a cartridge supply to the action remains uninterrupted (magazine
is not empty), gun will fire each time the trigger is pressed, without any other manual
operations. However, when gun is loaded for the first shot, it usually requires at first
manual loading cycle to be commenced. The key difference between automatic and
assault rifles and semi-automatic rifles is that the semi-automatic rifle will fire exactly
one shot per each trigger pull, while automatic (assault) rifle will continue to fire
continuously as long as the trigger is pulled and cartridge supply to action is not
interrupted. First semi-automatic rifles appeared at the end of the XIX century, but it was
not until the 1930s when semi-automatics began to proliferate into the military service.
The World Wars 1 and 2 gave a birth to the numerous design that were designed and
issued to troops in 1930s - 1950s, but fast proliferation of the selective fire assault rifles
made the day for semi-automatics in general military service.
Many bolt action and semi-automatic rifles are still in limited military service in the form
of Sniper weapons, but this particular category is discussed elsewhere on this site. This
particular section will describe mostly general issue infantry weapons.

Assault rifles
Assault rifles are primary offensive weapons of modern troops. Today's AR (Assault
Rifles) usually have calibers ranging from 5.45mm to 7.62mm, magazine capacity of 20-
30 or more rounds, selective full auto and single shot modes of fire, plus, in some models,
2 or 3 round burst mode. Effective range of fire is some 600 meters or so; effective rate
of fire - up to 400-500 rounds per minute in full auto mode. Many assault rifles shown
here are, in fact, parts of whole families of assault firearms (from short carbines to light
machineguns - Steyr AUG is a good example). Almost all AR's may be equipped with
bayonet, optical or Night Vision scope/sight and, some of them, with underbarrel grenade
launcher or rifle grenade launcher (rifle grenades usually are put on the barrel and fired
with a blank cartridge). Todays trends in AR design are wide usage of hardened plastics
and lightweight alloys and built-in holographic (collimator) or optical scopes with
magnitfication of 1X to 4-6X (usually 1X or 1.5-3X).
F
e
The history of the concept of the assault rifle started in the early 1910's, when the famous
Russian armorer, col. Fedorov designed a small-bore selective-fire rifle with detachable
box magazine. Initially, Fedorow designed a brand new small-caliber 6.5mm cartridge for
his rifle, but, due to WW1, switched to the Japanese 6.5mm Arisaka load, which was less
powerful than the Russian 7.62x54R and available in quantity. This rifle was aquired by
the Russian army in small numbers in 1916 and served (in very limited quantities though)
with the Russian and Soviet (Red) Army up to 1925. While the design of the selective-
fire rifle was not unique for that time, the concept of the "lightened" cartridge, more
suitable for full-auto fire, was new. Also, col.Fedorov invented the idea of infantry
weapons families (assault rifle, light machinegun, medium machinegun, vehicle and/or
aircraft mounted MGs) based on the same actions and receivers.

The United States also put in some effort to this idea, and before WW2 developed a
special less-than-medium powered cartridge .30Carbine and a rifle for this cartridge - a
so-called "baby-Garand" in semi-auto M1 and selective-fire M2.
FPRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT=Kalashnikov AK-47"

But the largest stride forward was made by the USSR, when, in 1943, the Soviet Army
adopted a new cartridge - the 7.62x39mm medium-power load. In 1945 , the Soviet Army
adopted the semi-auto SKS rifle in this chambering, and, in 1947 - the AK (known for the
West as AK-47). The AK was Worlds' first sucessful assault rifle, and one of the most
widely used. The Last major step on this road was made by US again - in the late 1950's,
the US Army adopted a new (for the US) concept of military selective-fire rifle using a
small-caliber cartridge. The first of such weapons adopted was the Armalite AR15/Colt
M16, designed by Eugene Stoner. This adoption lately set the new world trend for small-
caliber (5.45-5.56mm / .22in.) high-velocity cartridges.

Grenade launchers
• Single shot and under-barrel grenade launchers

• Αυ τ ο µ α τ ι χ γρε ν α δ ε λαυ ν χ η ε ρ σ

• Αν τ ι− τα ν κ γρ ε ν α δ ε λαυ ν χ η ε ρ σ
Basically, the grenade launcher is a weapon which fires a grenade – a small shell, filled
with high explosive or other agent, such as tear gas for less lethal application, bright
burning compound for illumination purposes, incendiary filling etc. Of course, in most
cases the grenade also must be fitted with a fuse, and with a safety, to avoid damage to
the grenadier or handler. The simplest way to use the grenade is to throw it by hand; but
the effective range and maximum weight of hand grenades is severely limited; so, at the
earliest stages of the development of firearms, many armies used so called “hand
mortars” – basically, the smoothbore muskets with short barrel of very large caliber,
which was used to fire standard grenades at ranges beyond the limits of human throwing
ability. During the First World War most nations started to use so called “rifle grenade
launchers”. These launchers in fact were add-ons to standard issue military rifles, usually
in the shape of a cup, attached to the muzzle of the rifle. A grenade was placed into this
cup, primed, the rifle aimed toward the enemy, and then the grenade was launched using
a special blank cartridge. This system, while enhancing the combat capabilities of
infantry soldiers, has several drawbacks – for example in many cases the attached
launching cup blocked the line of sight for the rifle.

German Mauser K98k carbine

(WW2 period) with attached
cup-shaped grenade launcher
There was another type of rifle grenade, which did not require any attachment to the rifle
– instead, this system relied on a special thin rod, attached to a grenade as a tail. This rod
was inserted into the bore of the rifle, and the grenade was launched using a blank
cartridge. In either case, an attempt to fire the grenade with a standard round of riffle
ammunition was disastrous to both weapon and the shooter. Most modern rifle grenade
launchers got rid of both the cup launchers and rods attached to the grenade. Instead,
 these are just specially shaped muzzle devices, often also combined with flash hiders; the
tail (rear) part of the grenade is shaped as a tube, which is slipped over the muzzle of the
rifle. Also, most modern types of rifle grenade launchers use standard ammunition, and
either trap the bullet and use its energy to project the grenade (helpfully known as the
'bullet trap' type) or have a hole down the center through which the bullet escapes (the
'bullet through' type), and use the gun gas expanding from the muzzle as a propellant. The
latter loses something in energy, but gains through not having to switch the gas operation
valve to 'closed' first.
The key problem with a rifle grenade is that when ready to fire, it effectively blocks the
standard operation of the rifle. That means that if the shooter with a grenade in place has
to fire his rifle in an emergency (e.g., if an enemy pops out in front of him), he should
first either remove or launch the grenade, which will take time and may cost him his life.

French soldier aims with the Modern Yugoslavian rifle

rifle grenade, mounted to the grenade, ready to be fired
barrel of the FAMAS assault from the muzzle of Zastava
rifle M70 assault rifle
To solve this problem, many countries developed and adopted so called “underbarrel
grenade launchers”. Unlike the rifle grenade launchers, which are just attachments to the
standard rifle, an underbarrel launcher is a complete weapon, with its own barrel, trigger /
firing unit, safety, and often its own sights. The infantry [assault] rifle is used only as a
host firearm, providing the stock for the grenade launcher. First developed between the
wars in Italy and Japan, the underbarrel launchers appeared in their modern shape in the
late 1960s, both in the USA and in the USSR. The underbarrel launchers do not block the
rifle, but add a significant penalty in the bulk and weight of the combined weapon. Also,
typical grenades for underbarrel launchers have warheads much smaller in size and
weight, limiting their effectiveness against the targets (but increasing the number of
grenades a soldier can carry with him).

American soldier aims a variety of 40mm

with the M4 carbine, grenades for NATO-
combined with M203 standard grenade
underbarrel grenade launchers
launcher
 Soviet-made AK-74
assault rifle with GP-25
40mm underbarrel grenade
launcher

The actual choice of the type of grenade launcher varies – some countries, most notably
the USA and the former USSR/Russia, stuck completely with underbarrel grenade
launchers, some others, like Belgium or France, seemed to prefer rifle launcher type,
while many other countries, such as Germany, produced both types of weapon,.
The post-war period saw a short period of renaissance of the stand-alone grenade
launchers, similar in basic idea to the “hand mortars” mentioned above. First these were
re-introduced in service by the Germans during WW2, as the “kampfpistole” – a
modified flare launcher, fitted with a rifled barrel and a detachable shoulder stock, and
firing various types of grenades. In the postwar period, several countries developed
single-shot, shoulder-fired grenade launchers, usually of 40mm caliber, which actually
preceded the modern underbarrel grenade launchers and used the same types of
ammunition. The most famous of these is probably the US M79 “thumper”, widely used
during the Vietnam War. The key problem with these weapons was that they required the
grenadier to carry some sort of personal defense firearm in addition to the grenade
launcher, such as a pistol, submachine gun or rifle. Latter on, several countries produced
multi-shot versions of stand-alone shoulder fired grenade launchers, usually in the form
of a large revolver, or a pump-operated rifle with a tubular magazine. Military users
mostly replaced these weapons with underbarrel grenade launchers, and stand-alone
launchers are mostly used either by special operations forces or by police forces, which
employ the launchers for less-lethal anti-riot applications, firing tear gas canisters and
baton rounds (rubber projectiles or buckshot).

German HK69 Russian

40mm single-shot GM-94
grenade launcher 43mm
Image: multi-
www.autoweapons.com
shot
grenade
launcher
(with
 tubular
magazin
e above
the
barrel)
Image:
www.shipu
nov.com

Drawing of a
future multi-shot
40mm SAAB-
Bofors AGR
grenade launcher
with computerized
sight and time-
fuzed grenades
The most recent trend in this field is the development of time-fuzed grenades in
conjunction with a fire control computer, mounted on the rifle and coupled with the
sights. This unit incorporates a laser rangefinder, a ballistic computer and a means for
programming the warhead before the shot. Before firing, the shooter determines the range
to the target using the laser rangefinder, and the computer automatically corrects the
sights to achieve the appropriate trajectory and presets the time fuze, so the warhead will
explode when it reaches the target. This allows the engagement of targets 'in defilade' (i.e.
when they are hiding behind cover) by using air-burst fragmentation warheads. At the
present time there are several projects that attempt to achieve such an effect, including
the American XM-29 OICW system and French PAPOP. The Belgian F2000GL system
offers a less costly alternative, with non-programmable grenades but with an electronic
sighting unit which allows much more accurate long-range fire.
The key targets for rifle and underbarrel grenade launchers are enemy targets of the
“soft” type – infantry, light entrenchments, unarmored or lightly armored vehicles etc.
Most tanks developed during the Second World War and since are usually far too strong
to be disabled with the relatively small amount of explosive carried in a typical grenade.
 Automatic grenade launchers

US troops with Mk.19 mod.3 automatic grenade launcher

It is generally believed that first automatic grenade launchers were developed in USA by
mid-1960s, following the US involvement in the Vietnam war. These weapons were
developed by US Navy and several military contractors to provide troops with close to
medium range support and area suppression weapons, effective against enemy infantry
and light structures. These weapons were light and compact enough to be installed on
riverine crafts, combat helicopters, jeeps, and on light infantry mounts (tripods). What is
generally not known is the fact that very similar weapons were developed and tested in
USSR prior to WW2, in around 1935-38. There were several designs of such weapons,
but most developed of these was the 40,6mm automatic grenade launcher designed by
Taubin. This magazine-fed, selective fired weapon was developed as a more versatile
alternative to the 50mm mortar; it fired 40,6mm fragmentation grenade (based on
standard issue 40,6mm Dyakonov rifle grenade M1930) in either direct and indirect fire
modes. However, changes in General Staff of Red Army following Stalin's repressions of
1937-39 resulted in withdrawal of Army support to this project, and Taubin grenade
launcher never went past prototype stages. The Taubin itself has been arrested, tried on
false accusations, found guilty and later executed.

Two view drawing of American Mk.18 mod.0

grenade launcher (1962), one of the first such
Soviet Taubin 40,6mm automatic grenade weapons to be developed and used in combat in
launcher on field trials, circa 1938 S-E Asia. Unlike most successors, this was not
truly automatic, as it fired via hand-crank
located at the right side of the receiver
For several decades the automatic grenade launcher concept in USSR was completely
 suppressed by light mortar concept, and it was Vietnam war that brought these weapons
back to consideration of Soviet army. Soviet Army got its new automatic grenade
launchers in about five years later than Americans; while Soviet and Russian 30mm
weapons are somewhat less versatile because of narrower selection of available
ammunition types, these weapons also significantly lighter than their Western
counterparts. During 1980s and 1990s, several other nations began to develop and
manufacture their own grenade launchers, chambered either for NATO-standard 40mm
High Velocity ammunition of US origin, or for 30mm Soviet ammunition. However, by
late 1980s Chinese developed their own grenade ammunition of 35mm caliber, and later
produced a lightweight, one man-portable weapon of indigenous design. This launcher,
initially known as W87, is very mobile but lacks suppressive firepower because of
smaller capacity magazines (maximum magazine capacity 12 or 15 rounds as opposed to
30 to 40 round belt capacity of Soviet and Western weapons).

40mm CIS 40GL automatic grenade launcher,

Chinese soldier fires an early version of the
35mm W87 automatic grenade launcher, fitted made in Singapore; it is installed on some
infantry combat vehicle
with drum magazine
Current grenade launchers usually provide both direct and indirect fire capabilities with
maximum effective range against point targets being about 800 to 1500 meters, and
maximum possible range against area targets up to 2200 meters. Typical anti-personnel
grenade weights around 250 g (complete round weight usually about 300 g, muzzle
velocity about 180 to 240 m/s); such grenade carries about 30 g of high explosive and
provides kill zone with radius of up to 5-7 meters (damage zone radius up to 15 meters).
Grenade launchers in turn usually represent large belt-fed machine guns with short,
stubby barrels with caliber between 30 and 40mm, mounted on tripods or various vehicle
mounts. Typical rate of fire for automatic grenade launchers ranges from 100 to 400
rounds per minute. Not surprisingly, such weapons can provide formidable suppressive or
target disabling fire against infantry and light vehicles and structures. Other than anti-
personnel, fragmentation ammunition, many countries also produce armor piercing
ammunition for use against enemy's armored personnel carriers and trucks (typical
penetration is about 5 cm / 2 inch of steel armor), dual purpose (fragmentation - AP),
short range shrapnel and other types of rounds.
The most recent trend in development of automatic grenade launchers is to provide these
weapons with computerized sights, that can measure range to the intended target and
provide operator with necessary aiming information, either for direct or indirect fire.
Further development is concentrated on air-bursting warheads that can be set up
automatically to explode over the heads of enemy personnel ad desired range (also
provided automatically from laser range-finder via computer sight). Several countries
currently are developing such ammunition and fire control units for 40mm weapons
(those include at least Norway, Singapore and USA) and at least one country develops
same concept in smaller 25mm caliber (USA).

Antitank grenade launchers.

Recognizing the need for a man-portable, short-range antitank weapon, several armies
during WW2 developed a new kind of weapon – the antitank grenade launcher. These
weapons fired specially designed projectiles (grenades) with HEAT (High Explosive
Anti-Tank) warheads of significant diameter (caliber), as the effectiveness of the HEAT
warhead is directly related to its diameter and the weight of the explosive charge. The
first such weapons achieved service status in 1942-44 with American, British and
German armies, as the M1 Bazooka, PIAT and Panzerfaust / Panzerschreck respectively.
The Soviet army adopted its first antitank grenade launcher only in 1947, and circa 1961
it adopted probably the most famous, effective yet simple weapon in its class – the RPG-
7.

German Panzerfaust Soldier aims with the Soviet RPG-7

grenade launcher of grenade launcher
WW2 era
Most antitank grenade launchers are separate shoulder-fired recoilless weapons, which
typically consist of a smoothbore barrel, opened at both ends, a firing module with
trigger, safety and ignition unit, and some sort of sights. The grenades are divided into
three major types – RCLs, rockets, and dual mode (RCL+rocket). The RCL grenades are
launched using a propellant charge, which is placed inside the barrel behind the grenade;
as the barrel is open at both ends, some (actually most) of the propellant gases are ejected
to the rear, effectively countering the recoil. The negative side of this system is the
backblast, with the danger zone being as big as 20+ meters beyond the launcher. To
minimize this problem, some variants (e.g. the German Panzerfaust 3) instead eject
powder or fiber material at high velocity rearwards, thereby reverting to the original
countermass form of the recoilless gun invented by Cleland Davies before WW1. The
rocket grenades use a small rocket motor, attached to the grenade; sometimes this rocket
burns out completely within the launcher tube, sometimes it continues to burn longer. In
the latter case, the shooter must be protected from the rocket blast by some special
means, such as a protective shield. The third, dual mode, system combines both
principles, using the small RCL charge to launch the grenade from the tube; then, at the
safe distance (usually about 10 to 30 meters) the rocket motor ignites, and further
accelerates the grenade, greatly increasing the effective range. Obviously, the antitank
grenade launchers are very simple and inexpensive; the most complex part of the system
is the grenade (or, rather, the development of the effective grenade is quite complex and
expensive – the production is quite simple), and, in most modern systems, the sights. The
earliest or most simple launchers usually had open sights with some sort of scale for
different ranges. Since the late 1960s, some grenade launchers (most notably the RPG-7)
are fitted with more effective optical sights, with range-finding scales and complex
aiming reticules. The most recent developments in electronics and lasers involve
computerized sights with laser rangefinders and automatic aiming correction.
Early grenades used relatively simple warheads filled with standard explosives like TNT;
modern warheads, designed to defeat the extra-thick composite armour of modern battle
tanks, often further enhanced with ERA (explosive reactive armour), use dual warheads,
filled with complex and highly effective explosives. In the dual warhead systems, a front
warhead of smaller size is used to set off the ERA, and then a larger second warhead
strikes the hull of the tank.
To further extend the usability of antitank launchers, the HEAT grenades are often
complemented with warheads of other types, such as HE-FRAG (High Explosive-
Fragmentation) for anti-personnel use, Incendiary, Thermobaric/FAE (Fuel-Air
Explosive, used against soft targets, bunkers and personnel in the open or in defilade),
smoke and some others.
It must be noted that only the most powerful antitank grenades can defeat the modern
battle tank from the front. However, armor on the sides and on the rear of most tanks is
much thinner, and thus much more vulnerable to the “poor man’s antitank artillery” – the
antitank grenade launcher. The recent campaigns of the US army in Iraq and of the
Russian army in Chechnya proved that antitank launchers (most notably, the old faithful
RPG-7) still are quite effective against most modern armor, if used properly.