| From: | Gurth <gurth@******.NL> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Multi-barrel grenade launcher (was Re: Vindicator Mini-Gun) |
| Date: | Mon, 9 Jun 1997 11:21:54 +0100 |
> It`s good to mount it on vehicles. AFAIK now some military vehicles have
> automatic grenade launchers mounted.
Mark 19s, AGS-17s, and similar weapons are used by several armies, yes.
> It`s especially good for combat with troops - lots of HE grenades fired
> at high rate can make big mess of flesh and guts from entire platoon. So
> why not to mount bigger launcher to cover more area with more lethal
> fire???
One factor is that if your current weapon is effective enough for your
needs, you don't need to find one that does it even better. Also, mounting
a weapon on a light truck (for example) can be a tactical disadvantage --
the truck is a large target, and it can't get everywhere the infantry it
is supposed to support can.
Modern automatic grenade launchers, including some ammunition, can be
carried by two or three troops, but you're looking at up to 100 kg for
weapon, tripod, and ammo; if you design a multi-barrel weapon (since
that's what got this started), the weapon alone would approach that
weight, plus you need a LOT more ammo to keep the weapon going for any
length of time. For example, a Mark 19 grenade launcher fires at about 350
rpm, and ammo comes in 50-round containers (which weigh over 20 kg each
and are quite large) -- one of those can be emptied in less than 10
seconds! Now imagine a six-barrel model doing 2000 rpm...
Nice as a sidearm for WH40K, I think, but not terribly handy on a modern
battlefield I think.
--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Well that's allright now, you don't listen to me anyway.
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-
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