Produced by: China's military science frontiers
Author: Weng Zongbo
Planning: Jinhe
Producer: Guangming.com Popular Science Department
To discuss the most frequently used anti-tank weapons on the battlefield of Russia and Ukraine, naturally, NLAW is the one. Under the operation of the Ukrainian army, this weapon caused the Russian tank to suffer heavy losses and suffered a lot. NLAW anti-tank missiles are therefore nicknamed "tank can opener". So, what are the specialties of NLAW?
Picture Note: NLAW anti-tank missile
R&D history
NLAW's full English name is "Next-generation Light Anti-tank Weapon", which means the next generation light anti-tank weapon. From the name, it can be seen that NLAW was later named, at the beginning. The name is MBT LAW, and was developed at the beginning of this century by Swedish Sabofos Power Company and the British Tellis Air Defense Company (which has been merged with the British Ministry of Defense). At that time, in order to reduce development time and funding, MBT LAW selected the dual high-explosive anti-tank warhead of the "Bill"-2 anti-tank missile, as well as the launch system of the AT-4 anti-tank rocket launcher with "soft launch" capability. The anti-tank missile system was put into service in , the British Army in 2009, and was officially named the next generation light anti-tank weapon (NLAW), replacing the LAW 80 and L2A11LAW (English: lnterim Lightweight Anti-tank Weapon, meaning: temporary light anti-tank arms).
Overall design
NLAW is to provide infantry with a shoulder-fired, one-time anti-tank weapon, which needs to be discarded after launching. It has an overall length of 1020 mm, a total weight of 11.6 kg, a main diameter of missile , a head diameter of 150 mm, a armor-piercing data of about 500 mm, a flight speed of 200 meters/sec, and a cone-shaped charge, and the warhead is flying overhead. Attack top/direct mode mix, with a minimum effective range of 20 meters, a maximum effective range of 600 meters, and a maximum range of 1000 meters. Because the NLAW is a soft-launched anti-tank missile system, it can be used by infantry in a closed space during town operations. In this system, the rocket first uses a low-power ignition to launch it from the launcher. After the rocket has traveled several meters until flight mode, its main rocket will immediately ignite and start pushing the missile until it hits the target.
Figure Note: NLAW anti-tank missile
strike performance
NLAW adopts two guidance methods to make it have a higher hit probability and strong anti-interference ability. When guided by predicted aiming line, the ammunition will automatically receive information from the shooter's aiming device before launch. After launch, the ammunition will fly along a calculated and corrected ballistic trajectory at a certain height above the aiming line. NLAW has two ways of attacking top and direct attack. The shooter can choose the attack method through the switch. When attacking tank armored vehicles, the attack method is used. The unique energy-concentrating charge in the double high-explosion warhead can easily penetrate the top protection of advanced main battle tanks. When dealing with fortifications and building targets, direct attack is used, and the warhead first penetrates the target and then explodes inside the target. When fighting in densely packed areas, NLAW can shoot from building windows to targets across the street.
actual combat performance
Picture note: NLAW anti-tank missile
Before the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and other countries had already provided nearly 5,000 NLAWs to Ukrainian . Because NLAW is small, light and simple to operate, it is very useful for the Ukrainian army in guerrilla warfare. Russian tanks were tortured by NLAW. NLAW specializes in attacking the top, sides and back of the tank, and specializes in picking the weakest parts of the tank. Strike, because NLAW can penetrate 30 cm of armor, plus the PLOS guidance it is equipped with, commonly known as "no matter after shooting", with high hit accuracy, its missile's energy-concentrating warhead can penetrate 500mm to homogeneous armor, and for explosion Reactive armor also has penetration capabilities. Therefore, NLAW can be said to have a lot of battles on the Russian and Ukrainian battlefield this time and has achieved many results.
Therefore, from the perspective of combat performance, NLAW anti-tank missiles are particularly suitable for street combat and can attack tank vehicles and fortifications. Due to its excellent performance, in addition to the UK and Sweden , NLAW also exports Finland , Indonesia and other countries.It's just that the name is different, the NLAW serving in the Swedish Defense Forces was named Robot 57, while Finland named it 102 RSLPSTOHJ NLAW.
Expert Profile: Weng Zongbo, a military equipment popular science expert, is mainly engaged in research on high-tech equipment at home and abroad, main combat equipment of various types of troops, joint combat strategies and tactics, etc. He has successively been in the People's Liberation Army Daily, " China National Defense News " and "Weapons" He has published more than 200 articles in military newspapers and magazines, and has won the third-class merit once.
Source: Guangming.com—Popular Science China
