The RPG-30 Kryuk (Cyrillic: Крюк, lit. "hook") is a Russian rocket launcher.
History[]
The RPG-30 was unveiled in 2008 by Bazalt as a modern anti-tank weapon designed to address the challenge of active protection systems (APS) such as ARENA, Drozd and Trophy, which eject munitions to destroy incoming projectiles before impact.
In 2012 Rafael of Israel announced the development of a radar system called "Trench Coat" design to complement Trophy and specifically counter the RPG-30. This system uses a 360-degree fire control radar and a shotgun-like engagement system which fires 17 submunitions at any detected threat. In the case of RPG-30 this is designed to hit the main rocket by targeting the decoy, since by the nature of system the main projectile will be flying relatively close to the decoy on a parallel course.
Design Details[]
The RPG-30 is effectively a variant of the RPG-27, with the main payload being a tandem-charge warhead designed to defeat modern reactive tank armor with very similar performance figures to both the RPG-27 and RPG-29. However, it is unusual in that it has two launch tubes, both of different sizes. The bigger tube houses the 105mm rocket, while the smaller tube houses a 30mm precursor rocket.
When the RPG-30 is fired, the precursor rocket is fired a fraction of a second before the main one: the principle of this is for the smaller rocket to act as a sacrificial decoy for the larger one, and it is designed to have a similar radar signature. Since it takes 0.2-0.4 seconds for existing APS to reset and acquire a new target in the same sector after engaging, the system cannot reset in time to engage the main warhead.
This is conceptually similar to the Swedish RBS 56B BILL 2 overfly top-attack anti-tank missile, which used twin explosively formed penetrators, a 40 mm warhead forming a "sacrificial" penetrator and a 110 mm warhead the primary penetrator. In BILL 2's case this was aimed at defeating roof-mounted explosive reactive armor rather than active defense systems.
The weapon is only fitted with simple flip-up iron sights and has no provision for mounting more complex sights. The rear sight is also the cocking lever, and the weapon is made ready to fire by raising it.
Ammunition[]
The RPG-30 uses the PG-30 round, with a 105mm tandem-charge warhead. The warhead has a stated penetration capability of 600 millimeters (23.6 inches) of rolled homogeneous armor equivalent (behind a layer of ERA), 1,500 millimeters (59.1 inches) of reinforced concrete, 2,000 millimeters (78.7 inches) of brick or 3,700 millimeters (145.7 inches) of reinforced log and earth fortifications. The stated performance would not be able to penetrate the primary surfaces of a modern main battle tank (as these can exceed 1,500mm RHA equivalent against hollow charges) but would be dangerous against such a vehicle's rear arc and upper surface.
There is no evidence the 30mm decoy rocket even has a warhead, and as such its performance would be minimal.
References[]
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