Author Archives: parvusimperator

Remote Turret: Russian Epoch

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We’ve spent some time earlier talking about remote turrets in our analysis of the Land 400 finalists. The German Lance turret is a pretty solid design. The Russians have a fancy new remote turret too. They don’t need to make a design with a bunch of different option s for export, so they settled on a somewhat different feature set. It’s in use on the T-15 Armata Heavy IFV and the Kurganets 25 IFV, so let’s take a look.

Unlike most other remote turrets, this new turret, called the Epoch, is pretty big. Russian big. It also contains a whole bunch of lessons from Russian experiences in Chechnya, as well as American experiences in Iraq. Epoch holds ATGMS, a 30×165 mm cannon and a 7.62x54R mm machine gun. And it’s loaded with ammo. The Bradley’s designers would be proud and jealous. There are 500 (no that’s not a typo) ready rounds of 30 m ammo, plus 2,000 ready rounds of 7.62x54R. Lots of ammo is good. The Russians have tended towards large ammo capacities, and just in case they had second thoughts, watching the American Bradleys go Rambo with their 300 rounds of 25 mm in Iraq convinced them that combining an HE firehose with staying power is aweseome. Reloading is for chumps. For the 30 mm, there’s a 340 round magazine and a 160 round magazine, and a dual-feed system for the 24A2 autocannon. We’d expect the bigger magazine to hold HE.

The autocannon and the coaxially mounted machine gun are both biaxially stabilized, and the turret is electrically driven. More interestingly, the Epoch is designed for high angle fire. This isn’t for indirect fire, this is because the Russians remember insurgents in Grozny hiding on the upper floors of buildings. That’s no place to hide now.

Additionally, the Epoch has provision for four Kornet-EM launchers, with two tubes on either side of the turret. I’m somewhat torn here. On the one hand, these are modern missiles, and four is the right number of missiles. More is better. On the other hand, while it has a relatively large tandem warhead, the Kornet is a laser-beam riding, SACLOS-guided missile that takes a direct flight path. It isn’t top-attack, and that’s just lame. Javelin or Spike would be better here. Even the newest TOW model, the TOW-2B, has an overflight top-attack profile. I really don’t like the idea of directly attacking enemy armor, now that the turret might automatically be rotated to present the strongest armor, and how light composite arrays and multilayer ERA arrays are getting. We’ve just had a nasty urban warfare campaign in Iraq which has convinced everybody to augment the side armor of their tanks. Time for some cleverness in your missile design, KBP.

The Epoch has two obvious sighting units, one for the gunner and an independent one for the commander. They appear to have day and thermal viewing units plus laser rangefinders. I don’t know the magnification levels, and I also don’t know how good the thermal viewers are. Historically, this hasn’t been something the Russians are good at. I don’t know if the sensors are quietly being provided by the French, or if the Russians have finally figured things out. This is probably not a dealbreaker though; as I mentioned in the T-14 review, it’s easy enough to change these out.

Moving on to other questions, the protection levels aren’t published, and don’t appear to be all that heavy. Probably good against machine gun fire and shell fragments, but not much else. This is acceptable, given that it’s unmanned. More protection would be better so a support fires kill by enemy IFVs is harder to achieve. It’d be hard to augment it much further given how many systems are externally mounted.

Overall though, this turret is a really good design. I like built-in combat persistence, and most of my serious gripes would be easy enough to work around. Here’s another good, modern design.

On the Gewehr 36

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First, the news.

The German court in Koblenz has found in favor of HK that they are not at fault for the issues plaguing the G36. This was expected, at least by yours truly. HK asserted in its lawsuit that the German government never required their rifles pass the tests in question, therefore they couldn’t be held liable for said rifle failing to meet those requirements. And it is true that the Bundeswehr never had requirements regarding the failures in question. Nor indeed did they do the tests until the chorus from the troops became so loud that they could not be drowned out. A good, legalistic defense. And good news for HK.

And let me be clear. I’m not blaming them for failing to meet standards they weren’t tested for. You might be a trifle peeved at HK if you’re following the news, but how would you feel if you took a high school Algebra test and then your parents scolded you for failing to pass a calculus exam?

What were the problems? To put it mildly, the G36 sucks when exposed to heat. The barrel is mounted to the polymer receiver and the polymer sight assembly in such a way that heat will compromise the mount, causing accuracy issues. I am not sure if this is a question of structural engineering or polymer composition or both.

Here is a picture of the trunnion on the G36.

That area, of course, is right around the chamber of the rifle. It’s gonna get hot quick. Now, I’m no engineer, but that doesn’t seem all that sturdy of a mounting method. And I might be curious as to how hot that area gets. And I know no other rifle does things that way.

These issues can be found in as little as 90 rounds (three magazines) of automatic or reasonably quick semiautomatic fire. They are also significantly exacerbated by high temperatures. The kind you might find in the Middle East. You can imagine the shock and horror in the Bundeswehr when they finally went out to go kick some haji ass with their American (and French!) pals and discovered that their rifles couldn’t take the heat.

Now, Germany is a temperate place. But the Germans have been in warm places before. Where? Hmm. Well, there was that bit in Afrika back in the 40s, right?

NEIN!
DISCUSSION OF THE WAR IS STRENG VERBOTEN!!

Okay. So, maybe not. I imagined Rommel. But hey. When 90 or so shots make your targets look like you forgot how to shoot all of a sudden, there’s no trouble at all, right? We’re imagining things.

But don’t take my word for it. I’m just some Amerikaner. What do I know? What do the German special forces units use? They use the HK 416 as much as they can. Hmm. Aluminum receiver, eh? I think my police friends might call this a “clue”.

German troops deployed to Afghanistan always tried to acquire G3s or HK 416s in the field. Another clue!

Then there’s the XM8, which was a G36 with a fancy shell. Same construction. It was plagued by heat issues, which caused its weight to skyrocket. Huh. This is turning into Cluetown over here.

Other than the massive heat issues, the G36 isn’t a terrible design. It looks kinda space age. It has an ambidextrous charging handle and ambidextrous safeties. The mag release is a paddle (which is in the center, and therefore also ambidextrous), and the mags do not drop free. The paddle isn’t operable by the strong hand from its usual position on the firing grip. It’s not as nice as an AR-15 pattern weapon ergonomically. The gas piston system works well. The magazines are also a good feature of the weapon. They can be clipped together using lugs on the side. They are also made of a translucent polymer, so you can see how many rounds remain. Plus, they were designed from the start for thirty rounds, so they have a continuous curve, instead of the dogleg of the AR-15 magazine. The optics are kinda goofy, and they’re integral, so have fun with that. The compact G36C version would introduce a lower picatinny rail sight/carry handle. But not as low as on other not-G36 rifles, because the charging handle is right there under the carry handle.

Also, in case there was doubt, the HK 416 is basically HK’s take on the AR design, but with the G36 op rod system. So there’s that, and it’s way better. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. They’re clearly paying us Americans back for stealing the Mauser design for the Springfield 1903.

Overall, the G36 a meh rifle before we knew about the heat problems, and now I can’t imagine why you’d get one. Despite all of the fancy new-age polymers, the regular G36 rifle isn’t lighter than the M16A2 (or M16A1, which is lighter still). And the M16A2 won’t make your groups the size of a barn after 90 rounds.

HK 416 Wins in France!

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The French are not wasting any time in selecting a replacement for their worn-out FAMAS rifles. The HK 416 has been selected as the new French Service rifle, beating out the other downselected rifle, the FN SCAR 16.

Congratulations, HK!

I came to a similar conclusion while back in my own HK 416/SCAR 16 head-to-head. So I totally called it.

Let’s review salient points in the 416’s favor, in case you’re wondering why the French picked a gun from La Boche. I’ve got some more thoughts on the 416 itself, but those will wait. This is about France.

1.) The HK 416 has been chosen as a general issue rifle already, by Norway. The SCAR 16 has not. While both were developed by American special operations units, and both are in service with a number of special operations groups around the world, including some in France, there’s a lot you can learn from a rifle by giving it to a bunch of grunts to use and abuse. Grunts can break everything. And the Norwegians have found some minor issues, which HK has fixed. So that’s a bunch of bugs the French won’t find. Picking something someone else has already issued generally means you’ll find fewer problems.

2.) The HK 416 is going to be the G36 replacement. Only a matter of time. I’ll have more on the G36 later this week, but given the problems it has in the heat (even if no one in cold-ass Germany thought to test in the heat), the Germans will be ditching the G36. The winner is going to be German, because they’re still secretly nationalist. And that means it’s going to be the next service rifle of Germany.

Why does this matter for France? Well, France is trying to cooperate a lot more with Germany on military matters. They’ve got a bunch of projects in the works with Germany, including a new tank project. Even if I think multinational projects like that are a terrible idea, and no multinational tank project has ever actually delivered anything, they’re committed. So choosing a common service rifle is a no brainer.

3.) The HK 416 is very automatic-rifle-like. Remember, in its off the shelf form (ok, they nicely put USMC on the side), the 416 was selected as the Squad Automatic Rifle for the US Marine Corps, in sort of a modern-BAR type role. I’m not sure if this is important to you, but if it is, if you’re worried about battles like Wanat (and can’t just fix your officer corps), the 416 is the rifle for you. It is also heavy. If you like heavy, it’s the rifle for you.

So there you have it. That said, I’d still prefer a more traditional direct impingement M4, maybe from Colt, or maybe Colt Canada (they actually have a somewhat different catalog than regular Colt), or LMT.

M1A2 Abrams SEP v3: Upgrade Time

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Well, the Russians have a new tank. And, for all its failings, the US Army is poking General Dynamics Land Systems for some Abrams upgrades to keep pace. Let’s see what they look like.

A brief aside: A separate program, and therefore not included in the SEP v3 upgrade package is a new anti-armor round. It’s the M829E4 round. It’s an APFSDS-T round, and it uses depleted uranium. It’s awesome, but very classified. Interestingly, I saw this a couple weeks after the T-14 was unveiled in a parade, which I find to be interesting timing. Connect two facts…

Anyway, SEP v3!
GDLS has added an under-armor auxiliary power unit (the UAAPU). It’s in the rear left quarter, replacing part of a fuel tank there. This should help with the inefficiency of the big AGT 1500 when it’s idling. Judging by the exhaust the UAAPU probably uses a very small gas turbine. It’s a good application for one, since turbines are small for their power and reasonably efficient under load. It should also help with providing all of the power needed for today’s fancy electrical systems. The UAAPU should provide enough power to run the turret (and everything in it) with the engine off. About time.

The SEP v3 also brings out the armor upgrades. The turret face and the front hull are better than they were before. How much better? Classified. Hooray for a new composite armor array though. I’m not sure if either section has gotten thicker, since I don’t have time up close with the SEP v3 and older v2 units. But the front armor is better now.

The Abrams has gotten some changes to its roof-mounted remote weapons stations. Tank crews in the field complained that the existing units tended to block their view a lot when the buttoned up. Also, they’re quite large, which makes going under bridges and things annoying. So there are new remote weapons stations that are lower profile and placed better to not obstruct the view as much. Happily, there are two RWSes as standard: one with an M2 for the tank commander and one with an M240 for the loader. I always approved of the number of machine guns on the Abrams. It takes advantage of that fourth man to operate another machine gun if he’s not slinging shells for the main gun. This is a big plus in urban areas.

The Abrams finally sees an upgrade to the M256 that lets it interface with guided rounds. There’s a new breechblock that can now perform this task. So integrating gun-launched missiles (such as the Israeli LAHAT) or airburst rounds can actually proceed. About damn time. The Israelis and the Germans have been able to do this on their 120 mm guns for years now. There are also plans to integrate a new airburst round to replace some other antipersonnel and demolition rounds that are currently in the inventory.

The thermal sights on the SEP v3 have been improved to be ‘third generation’ units. So they can see in both long-wave and mid-wave infrared. This allows for better images on the screens as well as better ability to see through obscurants like smoke or fog. Obvious capability win.

Finally, let’s talk about what’s not included: a new gun. It is not clear to me that the Abrams needs one, given the new round and the changes to the M256 to enable linking with smart rounds. They could deploy the XM360E1. They could also field a new 120mm/L55 gun, though this would require some upgrades to the stabilization system.1 If they’re going that far, they might wait to see/opt for the Rheinmetall 130 mm gun. We shall see. For the foreseeable future, I don’t think this is a huge concern.

No side armor changes have been announced. This is unsurprising to me. It is not feasible to provide protection from MBT main gun rounds on the sides. The concern you can do something about is RPG-type attacks, and the Abrams already has an excellent armor kit for the hull skirts and turret sides from the Tank Urban Survival Kit program.2 These systems are tough and combat proven. No more is needed. The TUSK program also added some optional belly armor to counter the IED threat. Again, more isn’t likely needed in the immediate future.

The SEP v3 still lacks active protection systems. Several are under evaluation, and may show up in a follow-on program. The US Army is particularly keen on Trophy, but there are also some promising systems from Raytheon.

Overall, this is a really good set of upgrade features, and there are more follow-ons coming. There are at least two engineering change proposals floating around out there. For once, this is a reasonably well managed program, introducing phased upgrades to keep an older platform competitive. Way cheaper than designing a new one, but it keeps the factories busy (and therefore open). Also, not trying to do everything at once keeps budgets under control and reduces the chance of the dreaded budget kill.

I would love to compare this to the German Leopard 2 improvements (2A8 anyone?), but nothing concrete has been announced. The US Army is doing a really good job of keeping on top of upgrades right now. These new upgrades should help make sure that the Abrams is a match for any tank out there. I’m also pretty happy about the lack of gold plating so far. Better knock on wood there.

1.) This drove the cost up too much back in the 90s when this was last considered. Back when there was no Russian threat to speak of. The US Army has been happy with their depleted uranium alloy rounds. Which tend to perform about as well as a similar-vintage tungsten-based-alloy round from the L55 gun, so maybe Big Army bet right on this.
2.) Specifically the XM-19 ARAT-1 and XM-32 ARAT-2 reactive armor packages.I’ll have a write-up as soon as I can get more information. There’s not much out there on these, especially on the newer XM-32s.

The Panhard CRAB

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France has a long history of building excellent, if quirky, reconnaissance vehicles. Reconnaissance vehicles tend to be small and lightly armed. But the French have always sought to use them as the heirs to the light cavalry tradition, and have armed their recon vehicles appropriately. In some cases, the result is basically a light tank. We’ll look at those later. Today, we’re looking at something quite a bit smaller but still well armed. Today, we look at the petite Panhard CRAB.

The Panhard Crab weighs eight to ten tons, depending on protection level. It is a 4×4 vehicle with some particularly interesting suspension and drivetrain capabilities. It has a crew of three, and a turret that can be fitted with a bunch of armament options.

The turret is designed to be modular. Display models have tended to have turrets equipped with the M242 25 mm autocannon and about 150 rounds. Also available is a turret mounting the M230LF 30 mm autocannon. Note that this is a variant of the M230 chain gun used in the AH-64 Apache. It is chambered in 30×113 mm, not 30×173 mm. Both autocannons are fully stabilized. Another available option is a missile turret. This turret can be configured with four launch tubes for the new French MMP ATGM or the Mistral MANPADS missile. Other missiles could probably be integrated with some extra funds and work. This is where the Crab might suffer a little. It would be nice if it could use the Spike or Javelin missiles. In any case, all turrets have a 7.62 mm machine gun (coaxially mounted for the autocannon turrets) and are unmanned.

The Crab has a few different protection levels available. The heaviest (STANAG level IV) is good against 14.5 mm AP rounds and 155 mm fragments at least 30 m away from the burst. This is a light, easily deployed vehicle. This protection level is pretty typical for a lot of small utility and reconnaissance vehicles. We’ll find a way to deal.

Most interesting is the drivetrain of the Crab. It has an active pneumatic suspension, so it can be lifted for extra ground clearance. Tire pressure is centrally regulated, which helps deal with soft or hard ground. Both axles are independently steerable, which makes the turning radius very small–the Crab can make a u-turn with a 5 meter radius. It has a 320 hp engine, giving a top speed of 68 miles an hour. Finally, it can actually drive sideways by turning both axles to the same side. This is as close to go-anywhere as you can get in a wheeled vehicle. The light weight will also help with ground pressure.

The Crab can accommodate 3 men. It has a battle management system, and comes equipped with all of the networking gear and radios to transmit information to other units. It also has 360 degree camera coverage, to help with information gathering or movement in any direction. Mast mounted sensor systems are also available. Optics or a short-range radar system can be mounted on a telescoping mast.

So what do we think? It’s light for Borgundy, but so are most things that have ‘telescoping sensor mast’ as a factory option. It is well armed, networked, and extremely agile. We’ll take the superlative agility and armament, since it’s as good as it’s going to get in the light reconnaissance vehicle role. Bonus that it resembles Halo’s Warthog vehicle, if that was designed for humans who don’t wear fancy power armor.

French Carbine Downselect

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A bit of old news, but I’m finally getting around to it.

The French are looking into replacing their FAMAS carbines with something new, because the FAMAS rifles are about 40 years old. And, because the French small arms industry is basically nonexistent1, they have to look elsewhere for a new carbine. The manufacturer must be European though. Sorry Colt and LMT.

Anyway, seeing as the new design had to be European, five companies stepped up to the plate to bat for this contest:

Heckler & Koch (HK 416A5)
Fabrique Nationale (FN SCAR 16)
Beretta (ARX 160)
HS Produkt (VHS 2)
Swiss Arms (aka SiG; MCX)

Of note is that the only bullpup design was the VHS 2.

A brief comment on the MCX. It’s a super new design; another AR with some not-so-small changes. SiG put in a truncated bolt carrier and a gas tappet operating system. The return spring setup is straight off an AR-18. It’s very, very light, and but for the lame looking stock, I rather like the design concept. And light is generally good. That said, of late SiG doesn’t have the best QC reputation2, and being the newest design, it doesn’t have the testing/refinements of some of the other designs. And this one is a bit more complicated than just adding an op rod, excuse me, a tappet gas system David ‘Carbine’ Williams. Truncated bolt carriers have been done before, but never with all that much reliability. Still, I commend them for entering it.

And now we have the results of the downselect. Still in the contest are HK and FN. So we’ll be watching the SCAR 16 and the HK416 go head to head to battle it out. This should not come as a surprise; both of these rifles have been used by some French special forces units, and both have been quite well tested and abused already. Honestly, I think the favorite at this point is the HK416.3 I’m pretty sure it’s the better gun, and it’s already got a pretty big contract up in Norway.

But this is a good choice. Going with the proven guns was a no-brainer here.

Also, not being a fan of bullpups, I’m quite happy to see the French return to the conventional layout.

1.) This makes me very, very sad. Such a shame that the nation that first developed smokeless powder can’t make it’s own small arms anymore. On the bright side, Col. Nicholas Lebel is probably spinning in his grave so fast that you could hook up a generator and power half of Paris.
2.) And this is with classic, proven designs: the P226 and P229. Which were *fine* until some genius decided to start messing with the designs to squeeze some more profit out of the margins.
3.) The favorite to win is a rifle made by la Boche? Sacre Bleu! At this point M. Lebel is going to be able to power all of Paris with his spinning.

Mechanized Infantry Platoon 2: Experimentation

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Now that I’ve hit my monthly quota of Obvious Fishbreath Provocations, we can get back to our regularly scheduled theory posts.

I’ve talked about these before, and that was fun. Of course, that posited a CV9035 with eight man capacity. As you’ll recall, my original choice of IFV was for the Puma, with a capacity of six, and I’ve gone back and forth since. Besides, CV90s tend to get uparmored and loaded with stuff, with reduced capacities of seven or even six men. But let’s get back to the Puma. I’m still fond of it, and it’s still the best protected actual IFV in the world. It doesn’t really need to worry about RPGs of any type or DPICM-type bomblets. Yay. And it’s going to take the least amount of fussing to get the design pretty close to where I want it. At least, if I can get over the dismount capacity. So, what if we damned the cost (or accepted GAO’s estimates, which seem reasonable), and built our mechanized infantry platoon (‘Zug’ to you Germans out there) around the Puma?

We’re stuck with a six-man dismount capacity in the Puma. No changing it. We can get three eight-man squads with four Pumas. I think it might be easier to think of these as four smaller ‘squadlike units’ though, where each vehicle and its dismounts is considered a “squad.” At least for planning purposes. The infantry in the field can organize as they like. Thinking this way gives us a basis of issue of ‘per man’, ‘per vehicle’, and ‘per platoon’, which is awfully convenient. And it encourages improvisation. I’m beginning to think that on-paper squad organization doesn’t really matter too much, since there are so many good enough answers out there. And it is unlikely the platoon will be at full strength, anyway. So I’ll settle for a convenient planning conceit, and let the men in the field sort stuff out. They’ll certainly have enough firepower.

Further, there are many reasonable organizations for 24 men, and four vehicles is a nice cost/dismount balance. There are another twelve men who are vehicle crews, bringing our total platoon strength to 36 men. It is assumed by me that three of the four vehicle commanders are the platoon headquarters component1, though they can take which seats they like. I will also assume the fourth vehicle commander, plus the four gunners and the four dismount team leaders, are some flavor of NCO. The rest of the platoon can be whatever rank, but there’s our on-paper minimum NCO staffing level.

There’s a bunch of stuff that is issued on a per-man basis. Of biggest note to you, I’m sure, are: the helmet, the standard protective vest (which I’ll discuss elsewhere), and the carbine. Dismounts get a fixed-magnification optic.2, plus sling and NVG-compatible aiming laser3. Dismounts also get a night vision monocular4 and a radio (specifically the SRX 2200) to communicate amongst themselves if separated. The dismount element leader additionally gets a PRC-148 radio to communicate with other elements of the platoon, and a handheld GPS receiver (the PSN-13). Vehicle crews are issued an Aimpoint Comp M4 red dot and sling for their carbines. I won’t discuss ammo or numbers of grenades or number of rations here. There are lots. I chose a capacious IFV deliberately to let me haul things. How many? Shut uP. The P is for Plenty.

Before we get to vehicle-issued stuff for the men, let’s refresh our memory on the Puma. The Puma is armed with a 30 mm autocannon, a 5.56 mm machine gun, and a twin-tube launcher for the Spike LR. The Spike Launcher still hasn’t been seen on Pumas in the Bundeswehr, or at least, not in the pictures I’ve seen, but it is fitted to all of the various Lance turrets flavors that are out in the wild. So I’m stipulating it. The fittings are there. Additionally, the Bundeswehr Pumas have a 5.56 mm coax machine gun. Presumably this was to make weight for the A400m, and because of the stowed kills argument. Alternatively, I’ve heard space in the turret might be a problem. Anyway, I’d really like to see the stowed kills argument analysis, and if you could fit a 7.62 mm MG in the turret. I’m not convinced you couldn’t make one fit. To keep things simple, we will stipulate that the caliber of the coax match that of the dismount MG. So, for now, let’s assume it’s the 5.56 mm MG4, since that’s what’s in the design, and I’m trying not to go nuts with changes. COTS, remember? If the 7.62 mm coax is preferred after the above tests (and perhaps a blogpost of thought experimenting), give the dismounts the Negev NG7 accordingly. Of course, since the Puma does carry plenty of 30×173 mm rounds, we can use those against targets too tough for the 5.56. I think we’ll also see an increasing number of up-armored soft vehicles that would resist 7.62×51 mm just as well as the 5.56 stuff, so the difference may not be of concern in the future.

Anyway, each vehicle has an MG4 mounted in the turret as a coax weapon. Each vehicle has a second MG4 for the dismount team. Note that the dismount machine gunner also has a carbine available should he need it. This will help for building clearing. Again, each machine gun has a fixed power optic, a sling (with extra padding), and another of those night-vision-compatible laser sighting units. Note that the vehicle coax and the squad can share belts of ammo. And, only one kind of belted ammo has to be supplied to the platoon. We’re also keeping the number of belt-fed weapons down to keep the number of riflemen up in the platoon and “squad.” We still have machine guns in the vehicles. Plus, tests have shown that if a squad has multiple machine guns, it’s a lot harder to keep it in the fight as it takes casualties.

As noted above, the Puma carries a launcher for two of the excellent Spike-LR ATGMs. These are rather heavy. We’ll figure that each vehicle should carry at least two additional Spike-LRs, plus a tripod and command launch unit should the dismount team wish to use them, perhaps in an ambush. The weight of the Spike-LR and launcher is quite heavy, so we also figure that this is not going to be lugged around very much. Additional, somewhat lighter antitank capability, at ranges more in line with those of the rest of the dismount element’s weapons, is provided by a Panzerfaust 3 launcher, Dynarange sighting unit, and at least three Panzerfaust 3 rockets. Most of these should be the newer PzF3T rockets with tandem warheads, but the PzF3B demolition round is also very useful. In both cases, more rockets and missiles is better, but the above should provide a reasonable baseline. Additional disposable rockets like the M72A7 or the AT4 can be provided as needed. The Puma has plenty of storage space.

Each vehicle is also provided with a 40 mm underbarrel-type grenade launcher (e.g. the M320) and some grenades. I do love high explosives. Field reports seem to indicate that soldiers prefer having these with the little stock units attached, so their rifle isn’t super heavy most of the time. So let’s provide a stock unit with each grenade launcher. The option for independent use is there.

On to things issued at the platoon level. Distributed amongst the platoon is the following supplemental hardware: the PRC-150 manpack radio, two LGI F1 spigot commando mortars, and two 7.62 mm marksman rifles.5 The manpack radio provides a backup option for communication, useful if separated from the vehicles. The LGI F1s are easy for a single man to use, and give us some indirect fire options. Much cheaper and more convenient than that lame XM25. Plus, it actually works. Finally, the marksman rifles give us an option for a bit of precision at range. These items can be divvied up amongst the vehicles as desired.

So there we have it. I like this. I didn’t specify a table of equipment in my previous platoon post, so let’s compare with some real-world examples. I’m giving up two machine guns when compared to the standard US Army Mech platoon, and three 40mm grenade launchers. I have the three Panzerfaust 3s and two LGIs, which gives me some platoon level indirect fire and some very heavy HE projection. Coordination abilities should be similar. I also have the 7.62 mm rifles at the platoon level, which give some extra reach if desired. I’m taking a page or two out of a Russian Motorized Rifle Platoon book. The American squad has a Javelin, plus the Bradley has some TOW missiles. I’ve got a similar long range guided antitank punch in the Spike LR missiles. And I’m similarly high tech, with plenty of comms in the above table. One other thing I like is that the above TO&E is pretty adaptable to any other IFV I might choose to design around, including the Bradley, the CV90 (even the versions with fewer dismounts), or the ASCOD.

1.) I.e. Platoon Leader (a lieutenant), Platoon Sergeant, and Platoon Guide (another sergeant).
2.) E.g. an ACOG. I might go with a HAMR or SpecterOS though. Regardless, fixed 4x optic. I should write a blog post on this.
3.) E.g. PEQ-15, but I might find one I like more.
4.) E.g. PVS-14. I’ll probably go PVS-14 here.
5.) It occurs to me I haven’t picked a heavy rifle. It will be select fire (not that full auto with 7.62×51 mm rounds will be used much), and have some optic and a night vision laser. The optic might have more than 4x magnification. Basically something to fill a ‘modern Dragunov’ role.

Mightiest Warship, May 1941 Edition

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It’s commonly thought that the Bismarck was the mightiest warship in May of 1941, when she sortied with Prinz Eugen, sunk the Hood, was crippled by Swordfish torpedo planes, and then sunk by a vengeful Royal Navy flotilla.

However, this is wrong. Wrong wrong WRONG!

Okay then.
“Magic mirror, on the wall, who’s the mightiest ship of all?”

Well now. The magic mirror would tell us the tale of the legendary Billy Mitchell, and that airpower is superior. Proven when he took out the Ostfriesland with bombs. The aircraft has more range and more effective antiship striking power. It is the carrier that is champion of types.

But which carrier? Well, she must be active, and therefore must be commissioned. And clearly the two navies that had carriers worth noting in the Second World War were the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy, so let’s look at those.

For the Imperial Japanese Navy, the mightiest flattop gal from the Far East is IJN Zuikaku1. Technically, the Kaga carries more planes, but both carry the same number of planes in ready, immediately flyable condition. No points for more stowed aircraft, which are disassembled. Plus Zuikaku has better anti-aircraft armament and thus better defense. She’s also faster, and speed helps generate wind over the flight deck, making takeoffs easier. Sorry Kaga.

For the US Navy, the mightiest flattop gal from the West is USS Enterprise2. The Big E. The Grey Ghost. One of three American carriers to be active at the start and survive the war. She had the biggest air wing in the USN in May of ’41.

Let’s get it on!

First, design compliment. Zuikaku was designed to carry 72 flyable aircraft, plus 12 disassembled spares. Enterprise was designed around a compliment of 90 flyable aircraft. The US Navy liked big air wings on its carriers, and to that end designed operations on using half the flight deck as a deck park, even during flight operations. So that’s points to the Enterprise.

A brief interlude. Many of you are no doubt wondering why I don’t compare the air wings themselves. The USN had the excellent SBD Dauntless dive bomber, the good F4F Wildcat fighter, and the outmoded TBD Devastator torpedo bomber. The IJN had the superlative A6M Zero fighter, the solid B5N Kate torpedo bomber, and the obsolescent D3A Val Dive bomber. I might also talk about the relative experience levels of the flight crews. But I won’t. Neither aircraft purchasing decisions, nor delays in production, nor failures to secure timely replacements, nor even how much time had been spent beating up on minor league air forces are the purview of ship designers. It isn’t reasonable to award or deduct points for things beyond their control. Besides, adding planes into the mix then brings up a question of doctrine, and the Japanese favored using float planes from cruisers as scouts. But the US Navy used SBD Dauntless dive bombers as scouts, which were embarked on the carrier. This will get very complicated very quickly if you’re trying to pick a winner from a hypothetical battle, as you might expect to be able to do if you were adding an aircraft comparison into the mix. Do we spot the Japanese some cruisers so they can scout too? Do we magically assume they can see the US Navy? Are we instead trying to make a hypothetical battle modeling of task forces, since these ships never travel alone? I should also point out that down that road lies the madness of trying to figure out how many fighters are on CAP duty/alert, and how many are in a strike force, and then comparing dissimilar types with unequal numbers. Lunacy. So I shan’t waste any more time discussing the matter.

Defensively, the best defense is the carrier’s own air wing. But that is not always enough. What about the guns? No points for antiship capability, of course. It is somewhat difficult to evaluate antiaircraft guns comparatively, so we’ll take as couple of proxy measures total throw weight per minute of all embarked guns in May of ’41, and AA Ceiling for the heavy AA. In my calculations, I will take the best rating I can find for sustained rate of fire, as a simplifying metric for comparison.

Enterprise had, in 1941, eight 5″/38 guns in single mounts, plus sixteen 1.1″/75 autocannons in quad mounts, and twenty four .50″ M2 machine guns. The 5″/38 is the best DP AA naval gun of the war. In the Enterprise’s pedestal mounts, these are good for about fifteen rounds per minute, with each shell weighing 55.18 lbs. So the 5″/38s give 6,621.6 lbs per minute. The Quad 1.1″ guns were less well liked, and were generally replaced with the more powerful Bofors 40mm as the war progressed. But that is in the future. Each shell of the 1.1″/75 weighed 0.917 lbs and the guns had a rate of fire of 100 rounds per minute. This gives us 1,467.21284 lbs per minute. The famous M2 Browning fired a round weighing 0.107 lbs at a rate of 550 rounds per minute. We have 24, so that’s another 1,284 lbs per minute. So in one minute, Enterprise’s AA guns can put out 9,372.8 lbs of aircraft killing pain. Maximum ceiling on the 5″/38s is 37,200 ft.

Zuikaku had, in 1941, sixteen 5″/40 guns in eight twin mounts, plus 36 25mm/60 autocannons in a dozen triple mounts. The 5″/40 gun was the standard DP heavy AA gun for the Imperial Japanese Navy. It fired 51.7 lb projectiles at a rate of eight rounds per minute, giving a total of 7,052.8 lbs. The Japanese 25 mm autocannon was a clone of a Hotchkiss design. Later in the war, the Imperial Japanese Navy would regret not developing something punchier, given how heavily built American naval aircraft were. The thirty six guns each had a rate of fire of 120 rounds per minute, and fired a 0.55 lb. shell, yielding another 2,376 lbs. So Zuikaku can put out 9,428.8 lbs of defensive firepower. Maximum ceiling on the 5″/40s is 30,840 ft.

So Zuikaku has a more powerful antiaircraft suite at this point in the war. On a raw points tally basis, that’s one point each, but we want to weight air wing heavier. That’s more useful for an aircraft carrier. The Enterprise was fitted with radar before the war. Zuikaku never got any.

So, overall, the Enterprise is the more powerful carrier. So she gets the crown of Most Powerful Warship in May of ’41.

Those of you who aren’t grumbling about me ignoring aircraft design are no doubt thinking “Fine, parvusimperator. But what about the old battlewagons? Surely Bismarck is the most powerful battleship in May of ’41. Yamato hasn’t been commissioned yet!

Wrong again.

“Magic mirror, on the wall, who’s the mightiest battleship of all?”

Battleships are a lot easier to compare than aircraft carriers. Pesky debates about aircraft don’t enter into it. Battleships fight with guns. Bismarck had eight 15″ guns, each firing an armor piercing shell that weighed 1,764 lbs. Well and good.

As mentioned before, Yamato isn’t commissioned yet. So her monster 18″ guns don’t enter the picture. And, my personal favorites, the Iowas aren’t done yet either. Nor are the South Dakotas or Britain’s Vanguard. What we have are treaty built battleships, and pre-1922 things.

Let’s start with which ships have 16″ guns? That would be the Nelsons, the Colorados, the Nagatos, and the North Carolinas. The Colorados have eight guns, and all the rest have nine. Of these, the North Carolinas are the only ones built after the end of the 1922 Washington Treaty-imposed ‘building holiday’. We might expect them to be better, being newer.

And for once, we’re totally right. The North Carolinas are not only the prettiest of the 16″ gunned battleships in commission in May of 1941, but they’re also the most powerful by far. The US Navy’s Ordnance Bureau had done a bunch of testing between the wars, and reckoned that heavy shells were best. As a result, when they went to design a new 16″ gun, they not only made the gun lighter and simpler, but also made the shells really heavy. The resulting Mark 8 “Superheavy” AP rounds weighed 2,700 lbs. North Carolina’s broadside is an impressive 24,300 lbs. Bismarck can only manage 14,112 lbs.

Discussion of armor protection is more complicated, and I’ll leave that for another article. But suffice it to say North Carolina does that better too.

There you have it. The mightiest battle wagon in May of ’41 is the USS North Carolina.

1.) Shokaku would also work here, and she’s the class leader and namesake. So perhaps the honor should be hers. But Zuikaku was luckier. And survived longer. Shokaku was damaged a bunch first, and sank first. So Zuikaku gets the nod here. Luck is important for a ship.
2.) Or Yorktown, who is the class leader (again, and namesake). But Enterprise is a legend, and the most decorated American ship of WWII. How could I not pick her?

Light Reloadable Antitank Shootout: RPG-7 vs. Carl Gustav

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It’s time for another head to head. Let’s look at two extremely popular light(ish) antitank weapons.1 In the blue corner, fighting out of Sweeden, is the Carl Gustav Recoilless Rifle. And in the red corner, fighting out of Russia, is the RPG-7. Let’s dig a little deeper into these two weapons and see what we think of them.

The Carl Gustav was designed just after the Second World War. It’s a recoilless rifle, which means it’s got a rifled barrel and it vents propellant gasses backward to counteract the recoil of the round. This recoilless principle allows for a relatively high projectile velocity of 230-290 m/s. This is twice as fast as an RPG-7 rocket, and allows the Carl Gustav to have a longer effective range against fixed targets. Available rounds include: HE, HEDP, HEAT, tandem-HEAT, illumination, smoke, programmable airburst, and flechette. Variants are available (currently for HEAT rounds) with rocket assist for a little more range, or backblast-reduction to allow use in confined spaces, like from within a building. HEAT rounds are rated for penetration of 400 mm of ERA; the Tandem-HEAT version is rated for 500 mm (plus neutralization of some ERA). This is not going to scare a modern tank unless you hit it from the side. It’s more than adequate for older tanks, or for lighter armored vehicles.2 The Carl Gustav has a caliber of 84mm, and of course, all weapons fired must fit in the tube. Since a reasonable first-order approximation of the effectiveness of a shaped charge is its diameter,3 this puts a pretty strong limitation on how much armor you can punch through.4 The standard version of the Carl Gustav is known to the US DoD as the M3 Carl Gustav, which weighs about 19 lbs empty. There’s also a shorter, lighter version, the M4 Carl Gustav, which weighs about 15 lbs empty.

The RPG-7 is somewhat newer, dating back to 1961. Interestingly, the tube is only 40mm, because it holds only the rocket motor. The warhead is fatter than the tube in most cases. This looks kinda goofy, and contributes to the weapon’s relatively poor accuracy at range, since the round is less stable. On the other hand, it means we remove a significant constraint on our warhead design. So while it will turn into the wind, which isn’t what you’d expect, we can fit some really big things onto the RPG-7 without issue. These include the tandem-HEAT PG-7VR rocket, which is rated for up to 750mm of RHA penetration. That’s actually starting to get dangerous for modern MBTs, though it’s still generally considered inadequate for the latest types5. This is a 9.9 lb. rocket, because you can’t cheat physics. Oh well–it means your light antitank weapon still has some bite in it if you happen upon things with treads. Lighter, older, HEAT rockets are also available, as is a fragmetation warhead rocket and a thermobaric warhead rocket. Finally, there’s an interesting bunker-clearing warhead that combines an explosively-formed penetrator with a follow up fragmentation warhead. Weight of the RPG-7 in basic form matches the lightened M4 Carl Gustav at 15 lbs or so. There’s also a Chinese copy, the Type 69, which cuts weight to 12.3 kg. And, if you actually want to apply modern materials to the design, there’s a US company, Airtronic, that’s made a clone called the Mk 777, which weighs only 7.77 lbs, or 3.5 kg.

So let’s break it down. The Carl Gustav has much better range. The RPG-7 (and it’s clones) are much lighter. The Carl Gustav has available Airburst rounds. The RPG-7 has available thermobaric rounds, which could be made for the Carl Gustav, but are unlikely because someone’s likely squeamish. The RPG-7 also has a tandem HEAT warhead that’s still decently formidable, and that’s not likely a capability to come to the Carl Gustav anytime soon. The Carl Gustav has rounds designed to accommodate confined-space operation, but the RPG-7 does not.

What’s our pick? This may shock you, but we prefer the RPG-7. We like theromobarics. We like having a light AT weapon that still has some AT punch left in it. And we like the lighter weight, especially if you’re going to take it on a long patrol. The Carl Gustav isn’t a bad choice by any means, but it’s a little outclassed by it’s Soviet competitor. Now, if range became a bigger issue, like in Afghanistan, then the Carl Gustav becomes worth its weight. But I think Afghanistan is an outlier.

For mechanized troops, for whom the weight is less of an issue, we still really, really like the Panzerfaust 3, since that has a proper antitank warhead on it.

1.) I’m looking at things that can be operated by a single person, and aren’t guided. Interestingly, guided weapon shootouts are a lot less fun to write, because the winner is much more obvious.
2.) This is actually true for the vast majority of light antitank weapons. There are a few (that really stretch the definition of ‘light’), including the Panzerfaust 3 which I wrote about here.
3.) At least, for similar generation designs. Also, I said ‘first order’ so some roughness is implied.
4.) You’ll notice modern weapons that actually are rated to defeat modern armor are significantly bigger in diameter than 84mm.
5.) This was about the armor penetration rating of the standard Panzerfaust 3 rocket. It has since been replaced by an improved model with a more powerful warhead for the antitank role.

Overdue Apologies

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Inspired by a wonderful TV spot by Colin Cowherd and Jason Whitlock for their new sports show. Which I also thoroughly enjoyed. Probably more of these to come next time I feel like letting ‘smartass’ go to 11.

I am sorry I hate the shotgun component of 3-Gun.

I am sorry I think the T-72 is a worthless piece of garbage.

I am sorry I don’t think the J-20 is very stealthy.

I am sorry I think BMPs are deathtraps.

I am sorry I think Chinese jet engine manufacturing capability is a joke.

I am sorry the Olympics bore me.

I am sorry I’m not an “AK Person”.

I am sorry I think hosting the Olympics is a colossal waste of money.

I am sorry I doubt the value of America’s NATO allies who aren’t Great Britain or France.

I am sorry I would never have let the Baltic States into NATO.

I am sorry I don’t believe in the ‘Olympic ideal.’

I am sorry I take mutual defense pacts seriously.

I am sorry I hate planning for COIN.

I am sorry I don’t like double action semiautomatic pistols.

I am sorry I’m not a gun hipster.

I am sorry I’m not a sports viewing hipster.

I’m sorry I’m not a hipster anything.

I am sorry my gun tastes are pedestrian.

I am sorry I’m a trigger snob.

I am sorry I’m a huge optics snob.

I am sorry I still think about big conventional wars.

I am sorry I’m not a safety nazi.

I am sorry I still plan around big conventional wars.

I am sorry my cynical distrust of politicians is rewarded by being right.

I am sorry I think nylon is a stupid fabric to have in a combat uniform.

I am sorry I don’t think linux is the greatest OS ever.

I am sorry I think the USN camo uniforms are stupid.

I am sorry I hate when my computer asks me for permission to do the thing I just told it to do.

I am sorry I’m still patriotic.

And, I’m sorry for fake apologies.