Grenade launcher from a Ukrainian shipyard. The new serial Ukrainian flamethrower is similar to the Russian one New Ukrainian-developed grenade launcher

Thus, the Russians had to react extremely harshly even to preliminary agreements on cooperation between our and Turkish military industry enterprises. Another surprise, according to many Ukrainian and foreign media, was a new portable rocket-propelled grenade launcher, presented by gunsmiths from the Kyiv design bureau "Luch".

However, in fact, this is a rather old development, which, since the beginning of the war in Donbass, has been actively proposed for armament. In general, this is such a stable trend of the last two years, when under the brand name of new developments Ukrainian companies(and mostly state-owned) represent projects and layouts at best from the early 2000s.

The fact is that during the presidency of Viktor Yushchenko, some funds were spent on the defense industry, military-industrial complex enterprises a short time They produced a large number of new projects and developments, many of which originated from the USSR. Naturally, it is impossible to adopt any model for service in a few years. And in the conditions of the counter-revolution, the next president and his defense ministers radically changed their approaches and everything remained the same to one degree or another. And now gunsmiths are racing to offer the Ministry of Defense literally hundreds of samples to arm the army.

The 107 mm rocket-propelled grenade launcher was developed by the Luch design bureau as a replacement for the Lynx rocket-propelled infantry flamethrower, which the Ukrainian Armed Forces inherited from the USSR and was actually withdrawn from service by the spring of 2014. That is, the main task of this model of heavy infantry weapons was initially the destruction of long-term enemy firing points, unarmored equipment (launchers, radars, parked aircraft, cars, etc.), as well as enemy personnel both in open space and in shelters - buildings made of stone, brick or concrete, and only last but not least - lightly armored vehicles.

The main feature of the new complex was, according to the developers, to be the newest PRG optical-electronic sight at that time, which automated and simplified the aiming process, which made it possible to detect and recognize targets at a distance of at least 3000 m. Such revolutionary characteristics for Soviet and post-Soviet RPGs sharply increased the shooter's capabilities, especially considering that the grenade launcher can be used from 1800 m. In addition, the time the shooter spent under enemy fire was sharply reduced, who now does not need to accurately adjust the sight and “catch” corrections, exposing himself to bullets.

Already in the fall of 2014, the complex was shown to the country’s top military leadership, including the then Minister of Defense Valery Geletey and the Secretary of the RNBO Turchinov and aroused genuine interest. True, at the same time serious complaints were made, which concerned primarily the expansion of the functions of the grenade launcher.

The fact is that at that time two types of 14 kg rocket-propelled grenades had been developed - high-explosive fragmentation and thermobaric. The main one for the grenade launcher was the latter - in fact, a volumetric explosion ammunition that creates a whole cloud of fire, literally burning out enemy personnel in cover.

However, based on the experience of the war in Donbass, the military demanded the development of cumulative ammunition that could be used to destroy tanks. However, the existing complex did not fully meet the new type of ammunition and required serious refinement. And now, three years later, a completely updated complex was presented to the world, which differs externally primarily in its dimensions.

Some military experts express doubts about the effectiveness of using a grenade launcher in conditions of maneuver warfare, primarily because of its mass - 22.3 km. Firstly, today we are witnessing a classic positional war on the line of confrontation in Donbass, in which our military lacks a reliable and powerful " long arm". Nowadays, extremely outdated Soviet anti-tank systems are widely used in this capacity, which, as a result of long-term storage, do not always have adequate characteristics, to put it mildly, and have a high percentage of misses. The newest Stugnas, due to their extremely high cost, should be used on a militant dugout somewhere in the area of ​​Pikuzy or Dokuchaevsk it is simply not economically profitable. But such a relatively cheap, powerful and effective (for comparison: the range of destruction of the most common RPG-7 on the front is only 0.5 km) would be extremely necessary and useful.

Secondly, taking into account the characteristics and technological base, the grenade launcher has quite comparable mass data. The same Russian RPG-29 “Vampire” weighs about the same. After all, it’s stupid to compare our model with Western ones, the same “Panzerfaust-3” of modern modifications, which was created on a completely different element base and obviously has best characteristics in all respects.

It is worth expressing a timid hope that the presentation of a sample at such a prestigious international arms forum allows us to say that the development of a grenade launcher has already left the experimental design stage and is moving into the stage of adoption and establishment of mass production. After all, the device is necessary and extremely in demand at the front.

Recently, at one of the test sites in the Dnepropetrovsk region of Ukraine, tests of the Ukrainian mounted anti-tank grenade launcher “Lancea” were successfully completed. For four months, a special commission of representatives of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, weapons developers and scientists studied the capabilities of the new grenade launcher. The video and photo materials published after the tests directly indicate that the grenade launcher can only be called a new product - it is a copy of the Soviet easel anti-tank grenade launcher LNG-9 "Spear", adopted for service in the early 60s.

It is worth noting that the original LNG-9, despite its impressive age, is still in service RF Armed Forces. “Boot,” as the installation is often called in army slang, has many modifications today, and has also become the basis for the development of recoilless mounted anti-tank grenade launchers of the third post-war generation. Having proven its reliability in dozens of conflicts around the world, LNG-9 large quantities served in the Ukrainian army. But since 2014, the Ukrainian side has not been able to receive new Spears, since the world’s only manufacturer of the grenade launcher was located in Krasnoarmeysk near Moscow. It is probably precisely this circumstance that forced Ukraine to seek own capabilities for production. Since the customer had no complaints about the old Soviet grenade launcher, the designers did not “reinvent the wheel.”

The declared characteristics of the resulting replica are practically no different from the original. The principle of operation also remains unchanged: reactive force in equal parts pushes the projectile out of the barrel and is retracted through the nozzle, which balances the recoil. “Lancea” is fully compatible with all “Spear” projectiles and can use both armor-piercing cumulative and fragmentation ammunition. The direct fire range does not exceed 1500 meters, and with separate fire it can reach 4500 meters. The length of the installation is 2.11 meters, the weight with the machine is 62 kilograms. The gun crew includes four people: a commander, a gunner, a loader and an ammunition carrier.

The main purpose of the grenade launcher will be the destruction of any armored targets, as well as manpower and light fortifications of the enemy. Like the LNG-9, the Lancea will most likely appear in an amphibious form or in a version for installation on vehicles. However, now only a traditional easel example has been demonstrated.

There was no information about how soon the new grenade launcher will enter the troops. Developer and manufacturer new installation a certain company LLC “Rubin-2017” spoke. The founders of this company are the TASCO corporation and Ukrainian Armored Vehicles LLC. The first is known for the small-scale production of small arms. And "Ukrainian Armored Vehicles" - the creator and manufacturer of probably the most unsuccessful Ukrainian armored fighting vehicle "Varta", has a very modest production potential (only about 30 employees), which is fully involved in fulfilling the contract of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for the supply of these armored vehicles.

Copying Soviet weapons is not something new for Ukrainian developers. Since 2014, in conditions of isolation from the Russian segment of the arms market, Ukraine has been trying to establish its own various types weapons. The first such attempt was the launch of production of 120-mm M120-15 Molot mortars in 2015. It became a modernized copy of the Soviet 2B11 mortar. The use of the latest alloys, which made the design lighter, was supposed to distinguish the mortar favorably from its predecessor, but it became even heavier. In less than three years of operation, a number of incidents occurred in the troops, resulting in the death and serious injuries of several dozen Ukrainian military personnel. By a recent decree of President Poroshenko, the use of Molot mortars is prohibited until the causes of frequent incidents are clarified. By the time of the decree, the troops had more than 250 guns of this type.

At the Ukrainian State Research Institute chemical products The production of RPV-16 jet flamethrowers has been established, reports the National Industrial Portal.

RPV-16 Photo: uprom.info

The range of action of the RPV-16 hand-held flamethrower is about 1 km, while the target range does not exceed 300 meters.

In fact, the new product is a copy of the Soviet/Russian RPO Shmel flamethrower. They have the same caliber - 93 mm, as well as the principle of operation of the ammunition and appearance.

Soviet/Russian RPO. Photo: modernfirearms.net

When it hits a target, the thermobaric ammunition with its air-fuel mixture is detonated, which ultimately leads to volumetric detonation and destruction of a fortified point or bunker.

During an explosion, a high-temperature pulse is accompanied by a sharp pressure drop resulting from the explosion of the fuel-air mixture. According to the developers, the high-explosive effect of the 93-mm RPO-A grenade is similar in manpower to a 122-152-mm howitzer projectile.

RPV-16. Photo: diana-mihailova.livejournal.com/1446430.html

However, this will not be the most dangerous weapon Ukrainian infantry, specialists from the capital’s enterprise “State Kiev Design Bureau “Luch” have completed the development of a new 107 mm caliber rocket launcher. This was reported by the publication of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine “People's Army”.

The maximum firing range of the grenade launcher reaches 1.8 thousand meters, the minimum is 70 m. The direct shot range is up to 600 m. The weight of the gun in the container is 14.1 kg.

Two types of ammunition have been developed for the grenade launcher: thermobaric and high-explosive. The modern optical-electronic sight of the new grenade launcher automates and simplifies the aiming process.

Gunsmiths from the Kyiv design bureau "Luch", who created the unique high-precision anti-tank systems "Skif" and "Barrier", have developed a new rocket-propelled grenade launcher with a "smart" sight. “The development was carried out under the existing conditions in the Donbass. The war showed that such weapons are extremely necessary. They are designed to destroy long-term enemy firing points, equipment, as well as enemy manpower,” the deputy told the Observer. General Director KB "Luch" Georgy Petrov. Adding that a new grenade launcher is being created to replace the honored veteran RPG-7...

In addition, the time the shooter spends under enemy fire is reduced, as he no longer needs to accurately align his sights and “catch” corrections, exposing himself to bullets. A rocket-propelled grenade with a caliber of 107 mm, weighs about 14 kilograms, it can be equipped with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead, which is needed to blow up bunkers and destroy light equipment.

To defeat enemy personnel, a thermobaric rocket-propelled grenade was created, or, as it is more often called, a volumetric explosion munition that creates a whole cloud of fire. Work is also underway to create a new cumulative ammunition for blasting tanks. The maximum firing range from the new grenade launcher is 1.8 kilometers, for comparison with the RPG-7 - 0.5 km. At the same time, the warhead of a rocket-propelled grenade accounts for from 6 to 9 kilograms, depending on the type.

The portable rocket-propelled grenade launcher is designed to destroy lightly armored and unarmored equipment (launchers, radars, parked aircraft, cars, etc.), field-type structures (pillboxes, bunkers), as well as manpower located in open space, in shelters, buildings made of stone, brick or concrete. The use of a new optical-electronic sight automates and simplifies the shooter’s work, ensuring high accuracy at maximum firing range.

Maximum firing range, m 1800
Minimum firing range, m 70
Direct shot range, m up to 600
Warhead thermobaric, high-explosive fragmentation
Weight, kg
- launcher with 8.2 sight
- grenades in container 14.1
Overall dimensions, mm:
- grenade caliber 107
- container length 1136
- outer diameter of the container 113
Temperature range of application, °C from minus 40 to +60

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