Thursday 11 December 2014

Rocket Gun

Opinions that Soviet man-portable rockets were just a ripoff of the Panzerfaust because of no precursors are widespread, but there desire for such a weapon long predates it.

"To the State Committee of Defense, department of Military Inventions

From Engineer M.L. Mill
Bilimbay, Sverdlovsk oblast
P.O. Box #7

Proposal

I propose that the front use an anti-tank rifle that fires RS-82 rockets.

My proposal can be operated by a single soldier, lying behind the weapon. The exhaust gases are redirected with a special device.

The weapon can be produced in a light (tripod) and heavy (wheeled mount) configuration, and weighs 14 and 20 kilograms respectively. The weapon can fire accurately at the same ranges at which an anti-tank rifle is effective (150-200 meters).

A rocket with the same weight as the RS-82 that I have developed penetrates heavy armour at this distance.

It is important to note that the weapon can be produced quickly and easily in the Urals, as RS-82 and guide rail production has already started, and the production of mounts can begin rapidly.

This weapon can be applied against tank or against pillboxes to support infantry. Due to its light weight, it can be installed on light vessels and motorboats, firing at a range of up to 1000-1500 meters against concentrations of infantry, especially in mountain regions where transporting artillery is difficult.

As of the creation of this proposal, 3 weapons have been made by the author and comrade S.V. Pakhin and tested with live rounds, indicating that improvements need to be made, which we are in the progress of doing."

RGANTD 344-1-171,173

Of course, there are pictures, but only of the heavier wheeled version.


Not exactly RPG-like, but who knows that it could have become after a few iterations of design changes, if not for a rather unfortunate weakness.

"Conclusions on the proposal of Engineer M.L. Mill titled "anti-tank rifle that fires RS-82 rockets"

The idea of devices that fire RS-82 rockets at tanks and pillboxes is not new. Similar proposals have been made in the past. Some of them have been built, but were deemed ineffective.

The problem is that the RS-82 has such a significant spread that shooting them at tanks or pillboxes is senseless.

At a range of 200 meters, the horizontal mean deviation is 3 meters and the vertical mean deviation is greater still. At a vertical mean deviation of 4 meters, the odds of hitting a 3 meter by 2 meter target are 3.4%, meaning that out of 100 shots less than 4 will hit.

Because of this, comrade Mill's device is not useful.

Chief of the 2nd Department of the GUVGMCh CVGK, Engineer-Colonel Semenov
Senior assistant of the 2nd Department Chief, Engineer-Major Shor"

While the 3.4% figure is likely for that ambitious 1000-1500 meter range, 3*4 meters at 200 meters is still pretty significant. Interestingly enough, when Panzerfausts were examined by Soviet forces, the conclusion was similar: "With a maximum range of 60-100 meters, the Panzerfaust is not, and cannot be, a serious or effective anti-tank weapon." (CAMD RF 299-3067-91)

3 comments:

  1. Rather pointless comment in the end.

    "While the 3.4% figure is likely for that ambitious 1000-1500 meter range, 3*4 meters at 200 meters is still pretty significant. Interestingly enough, when Panzerfausts were examined by Soviet forces, the conclusion was similar: "With a maximum range of 60-100 meters, the Panzerfaust is not, and cannot be, a serious or effective anti-tank weapon." "


    There were serveral versions of the Panzerfaust, later ones also had an effective range of 150 m.

    However, the most import aspect of infantry carried AT weapons is the weight. The Panzerfaust weights far less, about the half of the weight of the quoted rocket launcher. Thus, these weapons are not compareable.

    It is thus more compareable to the more powerfull panzerschreck, although even in the heavy edition the schreck was still lighter than the tripod version.

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    Replies
    1. The one with 150 m of range was produced in very limited numbers.

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