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Armbrust - anti-tank grenade launcher

The Armbrust (Crossbow - German) s a recoilless weapon, and its design is one of the few weapons of its kind that may safely be fired in an enclosed space. This anti-tank grenade launcher was developed in the late seventies as an individual anti-tank weapon for infantry, suitable for operations in the city. Armbrust grenade launcher fires shaped-charge HEAT grenade, which is stabilized in flight by folding fins. The entire launcher is disposable, with fiberglass-made barrel. The main developer of the grenade launcher was the German concern Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm (MBB). Currently, the production of these grenade launchers in Germany has been completed, but they are produced under license in Belgium and Singapore.

The etymology of the word Armbrust, which was first used in the twelfth century, is not quite settled. Some consider it as a genuine German expression formed from the word Arm, 'arm,' and Brust, 'breast,' or the Old High German prust, 'split,' ' rent,' whilst other philologists, including Jacob Grimm, classify it among those expressions which, according to their present form, seem to be derived from German roots, but which are phonetic corruptions of foreign words; they derive Armbrust from the Middle Latin 'arcubalista,' "arbalista,' the Modern French ‘arbalête.' The fact that the, now fem. noun, Armbrust was first used both in the masculine and neuter gender, would seem to speak against its purely German origin.

The Armbrust (crossbow) 300 has a range of 300 meters (328 yards). The projectile travels in an almost flat trajectory, increasing the probability of a direct hit. At ranges of 300 meters, the projectile is in the air for 1.5 seconds. It can penetrate 300 millimeters of armor. While in flight, the projectile cannot be detected by infrared sensors.

The most striking feature of the Armbrust 300 is that it has practically no backblast. When fired, it emits no loud noise or exhaust gas, and there is no backblast of dust and smoke. For this reason, the weapon can be used in confined areas. Other infantry antitank weapons usually require a relatively large cleared area behind the weapon, and the backblast discloses the firing position.

The Armbrust anti-tank grenade launcher is a disposable weapon consisting of a fiberglass barrel - a launch tube, on which a trigger mechanism, a folding handle and a shoulder rest, and a sight are installed. The grenade launcher is supplied equipped and ready to use. In front of the barrel is an anti-tank grenade with a caliber cumulative warhead. In the central part of the barrel, between two movable wads, there is an expelling charge, and in the rear part there is an anti-mass made of many soft polymer fibers.

When fired, the expelling charge pushes the wads out, back and forth, respectively, while the rear wad pushes the anti-mass out of the barrel, and the front wad pushes the grenade. Both pistons are then securely jammed at each end of the barrel, capturing hot propellant gases within the barrel. immediately after the discharge the barrel is hot, but it provides no blast or burn danger, and can be safely discarded. In the extreme positions, the wads are wedged in the barrel, thus almost completely eliminating the flash and noise of the shot. The masses of the grenade and the filler are equal, so the grenade launcher does not experience recoil.

Shooting from the enclosed space as the pistons stopper the muzzle, the shot is practically noiseless and flameless. Due to this reduced the impact of side effects accompanying the shot, he is not accompanied by sound - and plameobrazovaniem. The design of the system allows the propellant to use these weapons in enclosed spaces, and breech of the starting device must be removed from the wall by 0.8 meters. The danger zone behind the grenade launcher is minimal and is on the order of one meter, safe shooting from enclosed spaces is possible for the shooter. After the shot, the tube of the grenade launcher has an elevated temperature, but there is no danger of burns or rupture.

The grenade has shaped-charge warhead with a piezoelectric fuze (developed as an option with the fragmentation antipersonnel grenade) and shestilopastny stabilizer. Fuse triggered when meeting with obstruction angle to 73 degrees. Limited caliber armor piercing grenade launcher can be used only against light armored vehicles and shelters. Flight path grenades enough canopy - at the firing range of 200 m maximum excess path is 1 m, at 300 m - about 3.5 m flight time at distances of 300 m - about 1.5 seconds. Penetration is 300 mm.

In addition to the Armbrust grenade launcher with a cumulative grenade, the Bundeswehr and special units of law enforcement agencies were armed with its modifications: the Armbrust AR grenade launcher with a fragmentation grenade (damage radius - 14 m), the Armbrust UB grenade launcher with a training grenade, and the Armbrust SC grenade launcher for practical shooting with an insert barrel caliber 17 mm (survivability is calculated on 1000 shots). The Armbrust grenade launcher was adopted by a number of countries (mainly members of the NATO bloc).