TO R.A.W.on 21 Nov 2008 at 2:37 pm link comment
“What’s really odd about those specs from wikipedia, if they are correct, is that the RPG-30 doesn’t have appreciably better performance than the RPG-7!”
You should check the wiki about RPG-7 first, the original RPG-7(single warhead) only can penetrate 300mm RHA

If this works properly, the decoy will defeat the APS, the initial charge will defeat the ERA, and the main charge will then defeat the much weaker conventional armour of the lighter vehicle. 650mm of RHA penetration will easily do that, so why bother increasing the size of the warhead?

Typical of the Russians to come up with such a simple solution to counter the multi-billion dollar APS systems developed by the West. Of course, that doesn’t mean it will actually work…

Looks more like it’s intended to engage another nation’s AFVs, one which is typefied by vehicles such as the Merkava…

Thankyou, its a shame Bazalt (the manufacturer) hasnt updated their website recently but I imagine some more stuff will become avaliable over time.

Joking aside jdun is quite right, wikipedia should always be taken with a bit of skepticism, people are always padding it with rubbish! But if written well it should provide a good summary and links to all the important sources, just dont quote it in your thesis!

Great blog by the way steve, well presented and informative!

jdun, is welcome to his opinion but I think it is very informative

Heh, sorry must have a bad writing style but yes the figures come from the same article as steve used.

“What’s really odd about those specs from wikipedia, if they are correct, is that the RPG-30 doesn’t have appreciably better performance than the RPG-7!”

It wouldnt since the latest PG-7VR rounds were made avaliable the RPG-7 has remained competitive with modern developments in shaped charge design.

“Not enough detail given about how much delay between the two projectiles leaving, or what their velocities are.”

The delay was stated in the article as 0.2 – 0.4 sec so it shouldnt effect aim drastically, strangely enougth this is exactly the inter-shot reaction time for the ARENA-E. The velocity of the two projectiles should be the same over the effective distance to ensure the correct delay is retained.

All modern and prospective APS I have seen tend to defeat the incoming round at a similar distance from the target so the weapon should be effective against most or all systems. I imagine every system will need a recovery time to allow debris created by interception to clear for the next target engagement.

My critisism is the poor range which is definately a step back to the RPG-7, just 200 m, the main round is most likely the Vampire’s PG-29V which is effective up to 500 m, though at this range the precursor rocket would probably be inaccurate or lose too much velocity to be effective.

The little rocket is to decoy active protection systems. Not enough detail given about how much delay between the two projectiles leaving, or what their velocities are. If the delay is very long, the shooter has a tough job keeping his sights on the target throughout the delay period. An opponent would probably be better off to just volley multiple rounds of unitary projectiles. Viability of this system depends on the counter-measure it goes up against. Systems which intercept close-in could probably be defeated, but systems which actually send an interceptor out to the incoming threat could get a two-fer.

jdun, sorry I accidentally deleted your comment instead of replying.

jdun’s comment was approximately: “Wikipedia is junk and basically written by 14 year olds”.

Two successive hits in the same area might penetrate, though. And if it gets hit in one of the less protected areas such as its tracks or engines where the RHA equivalent is only around 610mm, it’d probably be dead in the water for a while.

Of course, that’s if Wikipedia got its capabilities right.

600 mm of Rolled homogeneous armor
1,500 mm of Reinforced concrete
2,000 mm of Brick

As a rule of thumb firepower will defeat armor.

Anyway the Russian and other US hating countries is either in a depression or going there next year. The great US consumer buying power or in this case the lack off has already destroy the Great Russian Empire economy.

Oil is below $50. Most oil rich nations that priced oil at around $100 can’t pay their bills now. Hugo Chávez can’t keep the lights on and isn’t able to feed his own people. Wait till next year were oil price will be below $30.

The US consumers is the most powerful force in the entire Universe. Fear us.

Unless there is more to it than the Russians are letting on?

This leads me to believe this weapon will do little against the harden areas on the M1A1 tank or the older M1 tank. I also doubt it will do much against the British Challenger II, which uses a similar design to ours.

I wonder how the impact points are supposed to line up properly?

Interesting that in the cross section, the main warhead looks like it might be some sort of tandem warhead too. If that oblong lump in front of the main charge isn’t a reactive-armor defeating charge, then I suppose it could be a standoff charge, but it’s a huge standoff charge in that case. Is there any sort of reactive armor that has more reactive armor underneath?

Conventional wisdom is that shaped charge performance is essentially a function of warhead diameter, so I wonder why they’re using a 105mm weapon when the 125mm RPG-28 exists.

This one’s a real head-scratcher!

So, I suppose we’ll all have to wait for an explanation of how this is better than a tandem charge warhead.