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145-654: The Bazooka ( / b ə ˈ z uː k ə / ) is a man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army , especially during World War II . Also referred to as the "stovepipe", the innovative Bazooka was among the first generation of rocket-propelled anti-tank weapons used in infantry combat. Featuring a solid-propellant rocket for propulsion, it allowed for high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) shaped charge warheads to be delivered against armored vehicles , machine gun nests, and fortified bunkers at ranges beyond that of

290-473: A tandem warhead shaped charge, consisting of two separate shaped charges, one in front of the other, typically with some distance between them. TOW-2A was the first to use tandem warheads in the mid-1980s, an aspect of the weapon which the US Army had to reveal under news media and Congressional pressure resulting from the concern that NATO antitank missiles were ineffective against Soviet tanks that were fitted with

435-486: A Bazooka could be fired from a helicopter in flight. One of the larger, 3.5 inch, models of the Bazooka was chosen, and was mounted ahead and to the right of the helicopter to allow the door to remain clear. The Bazooka was successfully tested, although it was discovered that it would require shielding for the engine compartment, which was exposed in the model 47 and other early helicopters. The helicopter itself belonged to HMX-1,

580-569: A blunt, rounded nose to lessen the chances of it ricocheting off angled armor. The M6A3 was meant to be fired from the M9, and later M9A1, launchers. Late in World War II, the M6A4 and M6A5 rockets with improved fuses were developed. These rockets arrived too late to see service during the war, but were used post-war. The 2.36 inch (60 mm) smoke rocket M10 and its improved subvariants (M10A1, M10A2, M10A4) used

725-448: A competitive trial of various types of spigot mortars at Aberdeen Proving Ground. On the morning of the trial Skinner and Uhl realised that the launcher had no sights, so they improvised some from a wire coathanger; despite this, it was the only weapon in the trial to be able to hit a moving tank. This led to the launcher being demonstrated to General George C. Marshall , the Chief of Staff of

870-554: A copper liner and pointed cone apex had a jet tip temperature ranging from 668 K to 863 K over a five shot sampling. Octol-loaded charges with a rounded cone apex generally had higher surface temperatures with an average of 810 K, and the temperature of a tin-lead liner with Comp-B fill averaged 842 K. While the tin-lead jet was determined to be liquid, the copper jets are well below the melting point of copper. However, these temperatures are not completely consistent with evidence that soft recovered copper jet particles show signs of melting at

1015-590: A couple of CDs. If the EFP perforates the armor, spalling and extensive behind armor effects (BAE, also called behind armor damage, BAD) will occur. The BAE is mainly caused by the high-temperature and high-velocity armor and slug fragments being injected into the interior space and the blast overpressure caused by this debris. More modern EFP warhead versions, through the use of advanced initiation modes, can also produce long-rods (stretched slugs), multi-slugs and finned rod/slug projectiles. The long-rods are able to penetrate

1160-530: A dense, ductile metal, and a very common choice has been copper . For some modern anti-armor weapons, molybdenum and pseudo-alloys of tungsten filler and copper binder (9:1, thus density is ≈18 Mg/m ) have been adopted. Nearly every common metallic element has been tried, including aluminum , tungsten , tantalum , depleted uranium , lead , tin , cadmium , cobalt , magnesium , titanium , zinc , zirconium , molybdenum , beryllium , nickel , silver , and even gold and platinum . The selection of

1305-458: A depth depending on the size and materials used in the charge. Generally, the jet penetrates around 1 to 1.2 times the charge width. For the cutting of complex geometries, there are also flexible versions of the linear shaped charge, these with a lead or high-density foam sheathing and a ductile/flexible lining material, which also is often lead. LSCs are commonly used in the cutting of rolled steel joists (RSJ) and other structural targets, such as in

1450-409: A feller who'd cleave you to the bazooka for tuppence with his bloomin' falchion ." During World War II, "Bazooka" became the universally applied nickname of the new American anti-tank weapon , due to its vague resemblance to the musical instrument invented and popularized by 1930s American comedian Bob Burns . Shortly after the first prototype launcher and rockets had been tested by firing into

1595-508: A high-explosive anti-tank warhead affixed to a rocket motor outfitted with areal stabilization-fins, typically folding fins. The majority of rocket launchers are reloadable, but there is no rule against single-use weapons. Loading of the rockets is either done from the breech or the muzzle depending on the system. The first man-portable rocket launcher to be mass-produced was the American 60 mm M1 rocket launcher, more commonly known as

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1740-519: A hole three inches in diameter was blown clear through the wall ... The hollow cartridge was made by tying the sticks of dynamite around a tin can, the open mouth of the latter being placed downward. Although Munroe's experiment with the shaped charge was widely publicized in 1900 in Popular Science Monthly , the importance of the tin can "liner" of the hollow charge remained unrecognized for another 44 years. Part of that 1900 article

1885-412: A less dense but pyrophoric metal (e.g. aluminum or magnesium ), can be used to enhance incendiary effects following the armor-piercing action; explosive welding can be used for making those, as then the metal-metal interface is homogeneous, does not contain significant amount of intermetallics , and does not have adverse effects to the formation of the jet. The penetration depth is proportional to

2030-454: A lesser extent the propulsive effect of its detonation products) to project and deform a plate or dish of ductile metal (such as copper, iron, or tantalum) into a compact high-velocity projectile, commonly called the slug. This slug is projected toward the target at about two kilometers per second. The chief advantage of the EFP over a conventional (e.g., conical) shaped charge is its effectiveness at very great standoffs, equal to hundreds of times

2175-444: A malleable steel plate. When the shaped charge detonates, most of its energy is focused on the steel plate, driving it forward and pushing the test gas ahead of it. Ames Laboratory translated this idea into a self-destroying shock tube. A 66-pound shaped charge accelerated the gas in a 3-cm glass-walled tube 2 meters in length. The velocity of the resulting shock wave was 220,000 feet per second (67 km/s). The apparatus exposed to

2320-515: A marine experimental helicopter squadron. In September 1942, a consignment of 600 M1 Bazookas was shipped to Egypt for use by the British Army in the Western Desert campaign . In a demonstration to British commanders, a Bazooka penetrated the frontal armor of a captured Panzer III ; however it was decided that the desert terrain lacked the concealment required for such a short range weapon and it

2465-410: A metal liner on the charge cavity, can penetrate armor steel to a depth of seven or more times the diameter of the charge (charge diameters, CD), though depths of 10 CD and above have been achieved. Contrary to a misconception, possibly resulting from the acronym for high-explosive anti-tank , HEAT, the shaped charge does not depend in any way on heating or melting for its effectiveness; that is,

2610-415: A much greater depth of armor, at some loss to BAE, multi-slugs are better at defeating light or area targets and the finned projectiles are much more accurate. The use of this warhead type is mainly restricted to lightly armored areas of main battle tanks (MBT) such as the top, belly and rear armored areas. It is well suited for the attack of other less heavily protected armored fighting vehicles (AFV) and in

2755-576: A new, more powerful anti-tank rocket launcher, the 3.5-inch (90 mm) M20. However, the weapon's design was not completed until after the war and saw no action against an enemy until the Korean War. In 1945, the U.S. Army's Chemical Warfare Service standardized improved chemical warfare rockets intended for the new M9 and M9A1 launchers, the Army adopted the M26 gas rocket, a cyanogen chloride (CK)-filled warhead for

2900-616: A part-time consultant to the U.S. government at Indian Head, Maryland , until 1923, but turned his focus to other projects involving rocket propulsion. Hickman completed the development of the Bazooka after becoming head of the National Defense Research Committee in the 1940s, where he guided rocket development for the war effort. Shaped charge technology was developed in the U.S. into a shaped charge anti-tank grenade for use by infantry, effective at defeating up to 60 mm (2.4 in) of vehicle armor . The grenade

3045-510: A relatively light, handy, and disposable weapon, the final M9A1 launcher had become a heavy, clumsy, and relatively complex piece of equipment. In October 1944, after receiving reports of inadequate combat effect of the M1A1 and M9 launchers and their M6A1 rockets, and after examining captured examples of the German 8.8 cm RPzB 43 and RPzB 54 Panzerschreck , the U.S. Ordnance Corps began development on

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3190-652: A rifle. This resulted in the creation of a series of rifle grenade launchers, the M1 ( Springfield M1903 ), the M2 ( Enfield M1917 ), the M7 ( M1 Garand ), and the M8 ( M1 carbine ). However, a truly capable anti-tank weapon had yet to be found, and following the lead of other countries at the time, the U.S. Army prepared to evaluate competing designs for a more effective man-portable anti-tank weapon. The combination of rocket motor and shaped charge warhead led to

3335-474: A shoulder-launched weapon, leading to a new type of weapon family which combined portability with effectiveness against armoured vehicles, fortifications, and buildings. Famous early examples includes the American bazooka -family of reloadable rocket launchers , the German Panzerfaust single-shot disposable anti-tank launcher and the post war Swedish Carl Gustaf 8.4 cm recoilless rifle . The war also saw

3480-441: A soldier to approach the target closely. See: List of anti-tank missiles . Shaped charge A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Different types of shaped charges are used for various purposes such as cutting and forming metal, initiating nuclear weapons , penetrating armor , or perforating wells in the oil and gas industry . A typical modern shaped charge, with

3625-643: A squad or team to transport and fire, to vehicle and aircraft mounted missile systems. The introduction of smaller, man-portable ATGMs, such as the M47 Dragon and FGM-148 Javelin , with larger warheads to the modern battlefield has given infantry the ability to defeat light and medium tanks at great ranges, though main battle tanks using composite and reactive armours have proven to be resistant to smaller ATGMs. Earlier infantry anti-tank weapons, such as anti-tank rifles, anti-tank missiles, and magnetic anti-tank mines, had limited armour penetration abilities and/or required

3770-477: A standard thrown grenade or mine . The universally applied nickname arose from the weapon's M1 variant's vague resemblance to the musical instrument called a bazooka invented and popularized by 1930s American comedian Bob Burns . During World War II , the German armed forces captured several Bazookas in early North African and Eastern Front encounters and soon reverse engineered their own version, increasing

3915-419: A standard thrown hand grenade . The bazooka also fired a high explosive squash head (HESH), effective against buildings and tank armour. The universally applied nickname arose from the M1 variant's vague resemblance to the musical instrument called a " bazooka " invented and popularized by 1930s U.S. comedian Bob Burns . The name bazooka was later applied to the 60 mm M9 "foldable" rocket launcher, which

4060-475: A student of physics at Vienna's Technische Hochschule , conceived an anti-tank round that was based on the hollow charge effect. When the Austrian government showed no interest in pursuing the idea, Thomanek moved to Berlin's Technische Hochschule , where he continued his studies under the ballistics expert Carl Julius Cranz. There in 1935, he and Hellmuth von Huttern developed a prototype anti-tank round. Although

4205-453: A suitable material that serves to protect the explosive and to confine (tamp) it on detonation. "At detonation, the focusing of the explosive high pressure wave as it becomes incident to the side wall causes the metal liner of the LSC to collapse–creating the cutting force." The detonation projects into the lining, to form a continuous, knife-like (planar) jet. The jet cuts any material in its path, to

4350-496: A traditional gas mixture. A further extension of this technology is the explosive diamond anvil cell , utilizing multiple opposed shaped-charge jets projected at a single steel encapsulated fuel, such as hydrogen. The fuels used in these devices, along with the secondary combustion reactions and long blast impulse, produce similar conditions to those encountered in fuel-air and thermobaric explosives. The proposed Project Orion nuclear propulsion system would have required

4495-466: A tube-fired rocket for military use. He and his co-worker Clarence N. Hickman successfully demonstrated his rocket to the U.S. Army Signal Corps at Aberdeen Proving Ground , Maryland, on November 6, 1918, but as the Compiègne Armistice was signed only five days later, development was discontinued. The project was also interrupted by Goddard's serious bout with tuberculosis . He continued to be

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4640-533: A war was to "attack, attack and then attack again". During the critical late-September Battle of Arracourt , Carpenter managed to achieve disabling hits on several German armored cars and two Panther tanks , along with killing or wounding a dozen or more enemy soldiers. In the opening months of the Korean War , in August 1950, a joint U.S. Navy and Marine Corps test used a newly acquired Bell HTL-4 helicopter to test if

4785-440: Is high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead. HEAT warheads are frequently used in anti-tank guided missiles , unguided rockets , gun-fired projectiles (both spun ( spin stabilized ) and unspun), rifle grenades , land mines , bomblets , torpedoes , and various other weapons. During World War II , the precision of the charge's construction and its detonation mode were both inferior to modern warheads. This lower precision caused

4930-406: Is a type of lightweight artillery system or man-portable launcher that is designed to eject some form of counter mass, such as propellant gas, from the rear of the weapon at the moment of firing, creating forward thrust that counteracts most of the weapon's recoil. Technically, only devices that use a rifled barrel are recoilless rifles . Smoothbore variants are recoilless guns . This distinction

5075-415: Is infinite, machine learning methods have been developed to engineer more optimal waveshapers that can enhance the performance of a shaped charge via computational design. Another useful design feature is sub-calibration , the use of a liner having a smaller diameter (caliber) than the explosive charge. In an ordinary charge, the explosive near the base of the cone is so thin that it is unable to accelerate

5220-416: Is named after Charles E. Munroe , who discovered it in 1888. As a civilian chemist working at the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island , he noticed that when a block of explosive guncotton with the manufacturer's name stamped into it was detonated next to a metal plate, the lettering was cut into the plate. Conversely, if letters were raised in relief above the surface of the explosive, then

5365-413: Is not to increase penetration, but to increase the beyond-armour effect . In 1964 a Soviet scientist proposed that a shaped charge originally developed for piercing thick steel armor be adapted to the task of accelerating shock waves. The resulting device, looking a little like a wind tunnel, is called a Voitenko compressor. The Voitenko compressor initially separates a test gas from a shaped charge with

5510-469: Is often lost, and both are often called recoilless rifles. Though similar to a rocket launcher, a recoilless weapon fires shells that use conventional gun propellant. The key difference from rocket launchers (whether man-portable or not) is that the projectile of the recoilless rifle is initially launched using conventional explosive propellant rather than a rocket motor. While there are rocket-assisted rounds for recoilless launchers, they are still ejected from

5655-450: Is released directly away from ( normal to ) the surface of an explosive, so shaping the explosive will concentrate the explosive energy in the void. If the hollow is properly shaped, usually conically, the enormous pressure generated by the detonation of the explosive drives the liner in the hollow cavity inward to collapse upon its central axis. The resulting collision forms and projects a high-velocity jet of metal particles forward along

5800-464: Is slang for "mouth" or "boastful talk", and which ultimately probably stems from the Dutch bazuin ( buisine , a medieval trumpet). The word bazooka appears in the 1909 novel The Swoop, or how Clarence Saved England by P. G. Wodehouse , describing the character Grand Duke Vodkakoff and a musical instrument used in music halls: "I shouldn't 'arf wonder, from the look of him, if he wasn't the 'aughty kind of

5945-481: The Battle of Arracourt —Major Charles "Bazooka Charlie" Carpenter mounted a battery of three M9 Bazookas on the wing-to-fuselage struts on each side of his L-4 Grasshopper aircraft to attack enemy armor , and was credited with destroying six enemy tanks, including two Tiger I heavy tanks. In the hands of American infantry the Bazooka still enjoyed rare successes against heavy Nazi armored fighting vehicles. In 1945, during

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6090-555: The Battle of Taejon on July 18, and proved their power by destroying a number of North Korean tanks that entered the city on July 20. As a result, the U.S. Army rushed to secure more M20 rockets and was able to hold more than 900 Super Bazookas during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter . The South Korean military also began receiving the M20 in early August, and successfully destroyed four tanks with M20s during their first usage on 9 August. Large numbers of 2.36-inch bazookas that were captured during

6235-799: The Chinese Civil War were also employed by the Chinese forces against the American Sherman and Patton tanks, and the Chinese later reverse engineered and produced a copy of the M20 designated the Type 51 . It is considered that the Communist-used bazookas destroyed more tanks than the UN Bazookas did. The M20 was used in the early stages of the war in Vietnam by the U.S. Marines before gradually being phased out by

6380-725: The Falklands War . An optical reflector sight replaced the iron sights beginning in September 1944. The M9A1 supplanted the M9 in production beginning in June 1944. It has an improved coupling mechanism for the launch tube; the overall length is 61.1 in (1.55 m) and 31.5 in (800 mm) when folded. Unloaded weight is 15.87 lb (7.20 kg). Man-portable anti-tank systems MPATS-launchers can be either unguided or guided weapons and generally fall into three distinct categories: Portable anti-tank systems initially appeared in

6525-585: The Potomac River , U.S. Army colonel Leslie Skinner , and Lieutenant Colonel Edward Uhl took the new system to a competitive trial of various types of spigot mortar (at that time seen as the most promising way to deliver a shaped charge), which was held at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in May 1942. The new rocket launcher scored several hits on a moving tank while the five different mortars achieved none; this

6670-659: The bazooka . It was a man-portable, tube launched, recoilless rocket anti-tank weapon, widely fielded by the United States Army during World War II and into the Cold War. Also referred to as the "Stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was amongst the first generation of man-portable rocket launchers used in infantry combat. Featuring a solid rocket motor for propulsion, it allowed for high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warheads to be delivered against armoured vehicles , machine gun nests, and fortified bunkers at ranges beyond that of

6815-426: The controlled demolition of buildings. LSCs are also used to separate the stages of multistage rockets , and destroy them when they go errant. The explosively formed penetrator (EFP) is also known as the self-forging fragment (SFF), explosively formed projectile (EFP), self-forging projectile (SEFOP), plate charge, and Misnay-Schardin (MS) charge. An EFP uses the action of the explosive's detonation wave (and to

6960-499: The petroleum and natural gas industries, in particular in the completion of oil and gas wells , in which they are detonated to perforate the metal casing of the well at intervals to admit the influx of oil and gas. Another use in the industry is to put out oil and gas fires by depriving the fire of oxygen. A 4.5 kg (9.9 lb) shaped charge was used on the Hayabusa2 mission on asteroid 162173 Ryugu . The spacecraft dropped

7105-495: The shock wave that the shaped-charge effect requires. The first true hollow charge effect was achieved in 1883, by Max von Foerster (1845–1905), chief of the nitrocellulose factory of Wolff & Co. in Walsrode , Germany. By 1886, Gustav Bloem of Düsseldorf , Germany, had filed U.S. patent 342,423 for hemispherical cavity metal detonators to concentrate the effect of the explosion in an axial direction. The Munroe effect

7250-575: The 2.36-in rocket launcher. CK, a deadly blood agent, was capable of penetrating the protective filter barriers in some gas masks, and was seen as an effective agent against Japanese forces (particularly those hiding in caves or bunkers), whose gas masks lacked the impregnants that would provide protection against the chemical reaction of CK. While stockpiled in US inventory, the CK rocket was never deployed or issued to combat personnel. Following Operation Overlord in 1944,

7395-629: The Allies (together with the atom bomb , Jeep and the C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft). During the war, Bazookas were lend-leased to the United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada, China, and Free French forces as well as the Soviet Union . Some were supplied to French maquis and Yugoslav partisans . The success of the more powerful German Panzerschreck caused the Bazooka to be completely redesigned at

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7540-472: The Army's development of light antitank weapons. In 1942, U.S. Army Colonel Leslie Skinner received the M10 shaped-charge grenade which was capable of stopping German tanks. He gave Lieutenant Edward Uhl the task of creating a delivery system for the grenade. Uhl created a small rocket, but needed to protect the operator from the rocket motor's exhaust. According to Uhl: I was walking by this scrap pile, and there

7685-427: The Bazooka could still be effective against even the largest of armored vehicles, though it required significant skill to accomplish. In a letter dated May 20, 1944, General George S. Patton stated to a colleague that "the purpose of the Bazooka is not to hunt tanks offensively, but to be used as a last resort in keeping tanks from overrunning infantry. To insure this, the range should be held to around 30 yards." In

7830-543: The Bazooka involved the development of two specific lines of technology: the rocket-powered weapon and the shaped charge warhead. It was also designed for easy maneuverability and access. This rocket-powered weapon was the brainchild of Robert H. Goddard as a side project (under U.S. Army contract during World War I) of his work on rocket propulsion. Goddard, during his tenure at Clark University , and while working at Worcester Polytechnic Institute 's magnetic lab and Mount Wilson Observatory (for security reasons), designed

7975-625: The Bazooka. Initially supplied with the highly unreliable M6 rocket and without training for its operators, the M1 did not play a significant armed role in combat in the North African fighting, but did provide a German intelligence coup when some were captured by the Germans in early encounters with inexperienced U.S. troops. A U.S. general visiting the Tunisian front in 1943 after the close of combat operations could not find any soldiers who could report that

8120-597: The Belgian Fort Eben-Emael in 1940. These demolition charges – developed by Dr. Wuelfken of the German Ordnance Office – were unlined explosive charges and did not produce a metal jet like the modern HEAT warheads. Due to the lack of metal liner they shook the turrets but they did not destroy them, and other airborne troops were forced to climb on the turrets and smash the gun barrels. The common term in military terminology for shaped-charge warheads

8265-459: The M20 for actual firing. However, budget cutbacks initiated by Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson in the years following World War II effectively canceled the intended widespread issue of the M20, and initial U.S. forces deploying to Korea were armed solely with the M9/M9A1 2.36-in. launcher and old stockpiled World War II inventories of M6A3 rocket ammunition. At the outbreak of the Korean War ,

8410-413: The M20's field manual contained extensive instructions on launcher lubrication and maintenance, as well as storage of rocket ammunition. When prepared for shipment from the arsenal, the weapon was protected by antifungal coatings over all electrical contacts, in addition to a cosmoline coating in the hand-operated magneto that ignited the rocket. Upon issue, these coatings were removed with solvent to ready

8555-688: The M9A1 and M20A1 launchers in various campaigns in Indochina , Korea , and Algeria . The M20A1 was replaced in the 1970s by the LRAC F1 . Commonwealth armies also used the M20 and M20A1 under the name M20 Mk I and M20 Mk II . They were used until their replacement by the Carl Gustav L14A1 . For instance, British Army used Super Bazookas during the Operation Vantage . The Argentine Army fielded M20s during

8700-624: The Operation Torch invasions in the North African Campaign. The Germans promptly developed their own version of the weapon called the Panzerschreck , increasing the diameter of the warhead from 60 mm to 88 mm (2.4 to 3.5 in), which as a result, gave it significantly greater armor penetration. During U.S. trials of the M1, calls for a larger-diameter warhead had also been raised by some ordnance officers but were rejected. Later in

8845-642: The Pacific campaign, as in North Africa, the original Bazookas sent to combat often had reliability issues. The battery-operated firing circuit was easily damaged during rough handling, and the rocket motors often failed because of high temperatures and exposure to moisture, salt air, or humidity. With the introduction of the M1A1 and its more reliable rocket ammunition, the Bazooka was effective against some fixed Japanese infantry emplacements such as small concrete bunkers and pillboxes . Against coconut and sand emplacements,

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8990-596: The Russian acronym RPG (Russian: РПГ: Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт , romanized : Ruchnoy Protivotankovy Granatomyot , lit. 'hand-held antitank grenade-launcher'), a name used for more than just rocket firing weapons. Rocket firing MPATS are conventionally called rocket launchers (alternatively man-portable rocket launchers when distinguishing them from vehicle ordnance) and are typically recoilless shoulder-launched systems firing high-explosive anti-tank rockets. These rockets typically consist of

9135-505: The South Korean military had 1,958 M9A1 rocket launchers that were given from the U.S. Forces Korea during withdrawal in 1948 to 1949, and they were the only anti-tank firearms that the Korean military had secured in sufficient quantities. The South Korean military actively operated rocket launchers against North Korean armor. However, the 2.36-inch rocket launcher failed to show its power against

9280-474: The Soviet Union ( RPG-43 , RPG-6 ), the U.S. ( M9 rifle grenade , bazooka ), and Italy ( Effetto Pronto Speciale shells for various artillery pieces). The development of shaped charges revolutionized anti-tank warfare . Tanks faced a serious vulnerability from a weapon that could be carried by an infantryman or aircraft. One of the earliest uses of shaped charges was by German glider-borne troops against

9425-448: The U.S. Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds, various metal collars and wire wrapping were used on the sheet metal launch tube in an effort to reinforce it. However, reports of premature detonation continued until the development of bore slug test gauges to ensure that the rocket did not catch inside the launch tube. The original M6 and M6A1 rockets used in the M1 and M1A1 launchers had pointed noses, which were found to cause deflection from

9570-447: The United States Army , who ordered 5,000 units on the spot. By late 1942, the improved Rocket launcher, M1A1 was introduced. The forward hand grip was deleted, and the design simplified. The production M1A1 was 55 inches (1.37 m) long and weighed 12.75 pounds (5.8 kg). The ammunition for the original M1 launcher was the M6 ("trials" code: T1), which was notoriously unreliable. The M6

9715-405: The adjacent liner to sufficient velocity to form an effective jet. In a sub-calibrated charge, this part of the device is effectively cut off, resulting in a shorter charge with the same performance. There are several forms of shaped charge. A linear shaped charge (LSC) has a lining with V-shaped profile and varying length. The lining is surrounded with explosive, the explosive then encased within

9860-408: The axis of penetration, so that the successive particles tend to widen rather than deepen the hole. At very long standoffs, velocity is lost to air drag , further degrading penetration. The key to the effectiveness of the hollow charge is its diameter. As the penetration continues through the target, the width of the hole decreases leading to a characteristic "fist to finger" action, where the size of

10005-510: The axis. Most of the jet material originates from the innermost part of the liner, a layer of about 10% to 20% of the thickness. The rest of the liner forms a slower-moving slug of material, which, because of its appearance, is sometimes called a "carrot". Because of the variation along the liner in its collapse velocity, the jet's velocity also varies along its length, decreasing from the front. This variation in jet velocity stretches it and eventually leads to its break-up into particles. Over time,

10150-437: The barrel by the detonation of an initial explosive propelling charge. An anti-tank missile (ATM), anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW), or anti-armour guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armoured military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder-launched weapons, which can be transported by a single soldier, to larger tripod-mounted weapons, which require

10295-935: The breaching of material targets (buildings, bunkers, bridge supports, etc.). The newer rod projectiles may be effective against the more heavily armored areas of MBTs. Weapons using the EFP principle have already been used in combat; the " smart " submunitions in the CBU-97 cluster bomb used by the US Air Force and Navy in the 2003 Iraq war employed this principle, and the US Army is reportedly experimenting with precision-guided artillery shells under Project SADARM (Seek And Destroy ARMor). There are also various other projectile (BONUS, DM 642) and rocket submunitions (Motiv-3M, DM 642) and mines (MIFF, TMRP-6) that use EFP principle. Examples of EFP warheads are US patents 5038683 and US6606951. Some modern anti-tank rockets ( RPG-27 , RPG-29 ) and missiles ( TOW-2 , TOW-2A, Eryx , HOT , MILAN ) use

10440-523: The cage armor slats, the warhead will function as normal. In non-military applications shaped charges are used in explosive demolition of buildings and structures , in particular for cutting through metal piles, columns and beams and for boring holes. In steelmaking , small shaped charges are often used to pierce taps that have become plugged with slag. They are also used in quarrying, breaking up ice, breaking log jams, felling trees, and drilling post holes. Shaped charges are used most extensively in

10585-449: The charge's diameter (perhaps a hundred meters for a practical device). The EFP is relatively unaffected by first-generation reactive armor and can travel up to perhaps 1000 charge diameters (CD)s before its velocity becomes ineffective at penetrating armor due to aerodynamic drag, or successfully hitting the target becomes a problem. The impact of a ball or slug EFP normally causes a large-diameter but relatively shallow hole, of, at most,

10730-438: The close of World War II. A larger, 3.5 in (89 mm) model was adopted, the M20 "Super Bazooka". Though bearing a superficial resemblance to the Panzerschreck , the M20 had a greater effective range, penetrating capability and was nearly 20% lighter than its German counterpart. The M20 weighed 14.3 pounds (6.5 kg) and fired a hollow shaped-charge 9 lb (4 kg) M28A2 HEAT rocket when used in an anti-tank role. It

10875-517: The complex engineering feat of having two shaped charges of the same diameter stacked in one warhead. Recently, a Russian arms firm revealed a 125mm tank cannon round with two same diameter shaped charges one behind the other, but with the back one offset so its penetration stream will not interfere with the front shaped charge's penetration stream. The reasoning behind both the Hellfire and the Russian 125 mm munitions having tandem same diameter warheads

11020-460: The cone tip is subjected to acceleration of about 25 million g. The jet tail reaches about 2–5 km/s. The pressure between the jet tip and the target can reach one terapascal. The immense pressure makes the metal flow like a liquid, though x-ray diffraction has shown the metal stays solid; one of the theories explaining this behavior proposes molten core and solid sheath of the jet. The best materials are face-centered cubic metals, as they are

11165-474: The core while the outer portion remains solid and cannot be equated with bulk temperature. The location of the charge relative to its target is critical for optimum penetration for two reasons. If the charge is detonated too close there is not enough time for the jet to fully develop. But the jet disintegrates and disperses after a relatively short distance, usually well under two meters. At such standoffs, it breaks into particles which tend to tumble and drift off

11310-800: The deepest penetrations, pure metals yield the best results, because they display the greatest ductility, which delays the breakup of the jet into particles as it stretches. In charges for oil well completion , however, it is essential that a solid slug or "carrot" not be formed, since it would plug the hole just penetrated and interfere with the influx of oil. In the petroleum industry, therefore, liners are generally fabricated by powder metallurgy , often of pseudo-alloys which, if unsintered , yield jets that are composed mainly of dispersed fine metal particles. Unsintered cold pressed liners, however, are not waterproof and tend to be brittle , which makes them easy to damage during handling. Bimetallic liners, usually zinc-lined copper, can be used; during jet formation

11455-471: The detonation was completely destroyed, but not before useful data was extracted. In a typical Voitenko compressor, a shaped charge accelerates hydrogen gas which in turn accelerates a thin disk up to about 40 km/s. A slight modification to the Voitenko compressor concept is a super-compressed detonation, a device that uses a compressible liquid or solid fuel in the steel compression chamber instead of

11600-399: The development of nuclear shaped charges for reaction acceleration of spacecraft. Shaped-charge effects driven by nuclear explosions have been discussed speculatively, but are not known to have been produced in fact. For example, the early nuclear weapons designer Ted Taylor was quoted as saying, in the context of shaped charges, "A one-kiloton fission device, shaped properly, could make

11745-409: The distance between the armor and the target, and the warhead detonates closer to its optimum standoff. Skirting should not be confused with cage armor which is primarily used to damage the fusing system of RPG-7 projectiles, but can also cause a HEAT projectile to pitch up or down on impact, lengthening the penetration path for the shaped charge's penetration stream. If the nose probe strikes one of

11890-474: The early Bazookas eventually resulted in replacement of the battery-powered ignition system with a magneto sparker system operated through the trigger. A trigger safety was incorporated into the design that isolated the magneto, preventing misfires that could occur when the trigger was released and the stored charge prematurely fired the rocket. The final major change was the division of the launch tube into two discrete sections, with bayonet-joint attachments. This

12035-557: The eventual "finger" is based on the size of the original "fist". In general, shaped charges can penetrate a steel plate as thick as 150% to 700% of their diameter, depending on the charge quality. The figure is for basic steel plate, not for the composite armor , reactive armor , or other types of modern armor. The most common shape of the liner is conical , with an internal apex angle of 40 to 90 degrees. Different apex angles yield different distributions of jet mass and velocity. Small apex angles can result in jet bifurcation , or even in

12180-412: The existence of the Bazooka was revealed to the American public, official press releases for the first two years stated that it "packed the wallop of a 155 mm cannon"—a great exaggeration. In late 1942, numbers of early-production American M1 Bazookas were captured by German troops from Red Army forces who had been given quantities of the Bazooka under lend-lease . There were also examples captured during

12325-414: The explosive device onto the asteroid and detonated it with the spacecraft behind cover. The detonation dug a crater about 10 meters wide, to provide access to a pristine sample of the asteroid. A typical device consists of a solid cylinder of explosive with a metal-lined conical hollow in one end and a central detonator , array of detonators, or detonation wave guide at the other end. Explosive energy

12470-403: The explosive for the purpose of changing the path of the detonation wave. The effect is to modify the collapse of the cone and resulting jet formation, with the intent of increasing penetration performance. Waveshapers are often used to save space; a shorter charge with a waveshaper can achieve the same performance as a longer charge without a waveshaper. Given that the space of possible waveshapes

12615-548: The explosive had a conical indentation. The military usefulness of Munroe's and Neumann's work was unappreciated for a long time. Between the world wars, academics in several countries – Myron Yakovlevich Sukharevskii (Мирон Яковлевич Сухаревский) in the Soviet Union, William H. Payment and Donald Whitley Woodhead in Britain, and Robert Williams Wood in the U.S.  – recognized that projectiles could form during explosions. In 1932 Franz Rudolf Thomanek,

12760-529: The failed Operation Nordwind offensive, a Bazooka team managed the unlikely achievement of destroying a Jagdtiger heavy tank destroyer, the most heavily armored fighting vehicle in World War Two. The team managed to do this by positioning themselves to get a shot at the massive vehicle's thinner side armor, scoring a direct hit on the ammunition bustle and causing a catastrophic kill . This incident shows that when correctly aimed at vulnerable points on vehicles

12905-457: The failure of the M6A3 warhead to properly detonate upon impact, eventually traced to inventories of rocket ammunition that had deteriorated from numerous years of storage in humid or salt air environments. Therefore, the U.S. Army immediately airlifted a small number of available M20 Super Bazookas from the U.S. mainland after learning that it needed more powerful rockets. The rockets were deployed during

13050-478: The failure of the jet to form at all; this is attributed to the collapse velocity being above a certain threshold, normally slightly higher than the liner material's bulk sound speed. Other widely used shapes include hemispheres, tulips, trumpets, ellipses , and bi-conics; the various shapes yield jets with different velocity and mass distributions. Liners have been made from many materials, including various metals and glass. The deepest penetrations are achieved with

13195-519: The form of heavy rifles – so called anti-tank rifles – during the First World War and interwar period . These soon got replaced with recoilless systems with the application of the shaped charge explosive projectiles during the Second World War . The development of practical rocketry and recoilless cartridges occasioned by World War II provided a means of delivering such an explosive from

13340-599: The front armor of T-34-85 , which was the biggest threat. The South Korean military responded by firing rockets into the side, rear, or track through ambushes, but they did not have much effect. At the same time, the U.S. military dispatched its first troops to the Korean Peninsula without trusting reports that a 2.36-inch rocket could not destroy North Korean tanks. On July 5, 1950, during the Battle of Osan , Task Force Smith tried to stop North Korean tanks with 2.36-inch rocket launchers and 75 mm recoilless rifles but

13485-474: The heavy King Tiger tank only possessed hull and turret top armor of 44 mm ( 1 + 3 ⁄ 4 in) thickness at best, able to be pierced by the Bazooka's shaped-charge rocket. During the 1944 Allied offensive in France, when some examples of liaison aircraft with the U.S. Army began to be experimentally field-armed, and were already flying with pairs or quartets of the American ordnance—and most notably used during

13630-413: The hole. Other alloys, binary eutectics (e.g. Pb 88.8 Sb 11.1 , Sn 61.9 Pd 38.1 , or Ag 71.9 Cu 28.1 ), form a metal-matrix composite material with ductile matrix with brittle dendrites ; such materials reduce slug formation but are difficult to shape. A metal-matrix composite with discrete inclusions of low-melting material is another option; the inclusions either melt before the jet reaches

13775-511: The inclusions can also be achieved. Other additives can modify the alloy properties; tin (4–8%), nickel (up to 30% and often together with tin), up to 8% aluminium, phosphorus (forming brittle phosphides) or 1–5% silicon form brittle inclusions serving as crack initiation sites. Up to 30% zinc can be added to lower the material cost and to form additional brittle phases. Oxide glass liners produce jets of low density, therefore yielding less penetration depth. Double-layer liners, with one layer of

13920-582: The introduction of tanks in World War I and until the Korean War . While medium and heavy tank armour became too thick to be penetrated by rigid projectiles from rifles that one soldier could carry, anti-tank rifles continued to be used against other targets. Anti-materiel rifles of today, such as the Barrett M82 , are a development of the Second World War technology. Although no longer able to penetrate even

14065-423: The jet coalesce to form a pronounced wider tip portion. Most of the jet travels at hypersonic speed. The tip moves at 7 to 14 km/s, the jet tail at a lower velocity (1 to 3 km/s), and the slug at a still lower velocity (less than 1 km/s). The exact velocities depend on the charge's configuration and confinement, explosive type, materials used, and the explosive-initiation mode. At typical velocities,

14210-453: The jet from a shaped charge does not melt its way through armor, as its effect is purely kinetic in nature – however the process creates significant heat and often has a significant secondary incendiary effect after penetration. The Munroe or Neumann effect is the focusing of blast energy by a hollow or void cut on a surface of an explosive. The earliest mention of hollow charges were mentioned in 1792. Franz Xaver von Baader (1765–1841)

14355-413: The jet room to disperse and hence also reduce HEAT penetration. The use of add-on spaced armor skirts on armored vehicles may have the opposite effect and actually increase the penetration of some shaped-charge warheads. Due to constraints in the length of the projectile/missile, the built-in stand-off on many warheads is less than the optimum distance. In such cases, the skirting effectively increases

14500-431: The jet to curve and to break up at an earlier time and hence at a shorter distance. The resulting dispersion decreased the penetration depth for a given cone diameter and also shortened the optimum standoff distance. Since the charges were less effective at larger standoffs, side and turret skirts (known as Schürzen ) fitted to some German tanks to protect against ordinary anti-tank rifles were fortuitously found to give

14645-403: The letters on the plate would also be raised above its surface. In 1894, Munroe constructed his first crude shaped charge: Among the experiments made ... was one upon a safe twenty-nine inches cube, with walls four inches and three quarters thick, made up of plates of iron and steel ... When a hollow charge of dynamite nine pounds and a half in weight and untamped was detonated on it,

14790-544: The lift struts as other L-4s had done. Within a few weeks, Carpenter was credited with knocking out a German armored car and four tanks. Carpenter's plane was known as "Rosie the Rocketer", and his exploits were soon featured in many press accounts, including Stars and Stripes , the Associated Press , Popular Science , The New York Sun , and Liberty magazine. Carpenter once told a reporter that his idea of fighting

14935-570: The management of Tran Dai Nghia . It was successfully test-fired in 1947. The anti-French Viet Minh received Chinese Type 51 bazookas. They were used by the Viet Cong as late as 1964. The Portuguese Armed Forces used quantities of M9A1 and M20 rocket launchers in their overseas provinces in Africa against Marxist guerrilla forces during the Portuguese Overseas War . The French Army also used

15080-472: The material depends on the target to be penetrated; for example, aluminum has been found advantageous for concrete targets. In early antitank weapons, copper was used as a liner material. Later, in the 1970s, it was found tantalum is superior to copper, due to its much higher density and very high ductility at high strain rates. Other high-density metals and alloys tend to have drawbacks in terms of price, toxicity, radioactivity, or lack of ductility. For

15225-424: The maximum length of the jet, which is a product of the jet tip velocity and time to particulation. The jet tip velocity depends on bulk sound velocity in the liner material, the time to particulation is dependent on the ductility of the material. The maximum achievable jet velocity is roughly 2.34 times the sound velocity in the material. The speed can reach 10 km/s, peaking some 40 microseconds after detonation;

15370-538: The mid-1960s in favor of the M67 recoilless rifle and later, the M72 LAW rocket. The U.S. Army also used it in lesser quantity. While occasions to destroy enemy armored vehicles proved exceedingly rare, it was employed against enemy fortifications and emplacements with success. The M20 remained in service with South Vietnamese and indigenous forces until the late 1960s. The Vietnam People's Army also developed their own Bazooka under

15515-583: The military version of the Piper J-3 Cub, the L-4 Grasshopper, was issued a new L-4H version during the concluding stages of "Overlord", taking this "light attack" role against German armor by himself. With a 150-pound pilot and no radio aboard, the L-4H had a combined cargo and passenger weight capacity of approximately 232 pounds. This margin allowed him to eventually mount a total of six Bazookas, three per side on

15660-492: The military version of the slow-flying Piper J-3 Cub high-wing civilian monoplane, the L-4 Grasshopper, began to be used in a light anti-armor role by a few U.S. Army artillery spotter units over France; these aircraft were field-outfitted with either two or four Bazookas attached to the lift struts , against German armored fighting vehicles. Upon arriving in France in 1944 , U.S. Army major, Charles Carpenter , an Army aviator flying liaison and artillery-spotting lightplanes like

15805-454: The most ductile, but even graphite and zero-ductility ceramic cones show significant penetration. For optimal penetration, a high explosive with a high detonation velocity and pressure is normally chosen. The most common explosive used in high performance anti-armor warheads is HMX (octogen), although never in its pure form, as it would be too sensitive. It is normally compounded with a few percent of some type of plastic binder, such as in

15950-475: The new ERA boxes . The Army revealed that a 40 mm precursor shaped-charge warhead was fitted on the tip of the TOW-2 and TOW-2A collapsible probe. Usually, the front charge is somewhat smaller than the rear one, as it is intended primarily to disrupt ERA boxes or tiles. Examples of tandem warheads are US patents 7363862 and US 5561261. The US Hellfire antiarmor missile is one of the few that have accomplished

16095-399: The particles tend to fall out of alignment, which reduces the depth of penetration at long standoffs. At the apex of the cone, which forms the very front of the jet, the liner does not have time to be fully accelerated before it forms its part of the jet. This results in its small part of jet being projected at a lower velocity than jet formed later behind it. As a result, the initial parts of

16240-401: The penetration process generates such enormous pressures that it may be considered hydrodynamic ; to a good approximation, the jet and armor may be treated as inviscid , compressible fluids (see, for example, ), with their material strengths ignored. A recent technique using magnetic diffusion analysis showed that the temperature of the outer 50% by volume of a copper jet tip while in flight

16385-522: The polymer-bonded explosive (PBX) LX-14, or with another less-sensitive explosive, such as TNT , with which it forms Octol . Other common high-performance explosives are RDX -based compositions, again either as PBXs or mixtures with TNT (to form Composition B and the Cyclotols ) or wax (Cyclonites). Some explosives incorporate powdered aluminum to increase their blast and detonation temperature, but this addition generally results in decreased performance of

16530-813: The production of the M9A1, the T43 sight was replaced by the Polaroid T90 optical reflector sight, which used an etched reticle for aiming. The T43 and T90 sights were interchangeable. Various types of blast deflectors were tried, and an additional strap iron shoulder brace was fitted to the M9 launcher. The Bazooka required special care when used in tropical or arctic climates or in severe dust or sand conditions. Rockets were not to be fired at temperatures below 0 °F or above 120 °F (−18 °C to +49 °C). In 1943, field reports of rockets sticking and prematurely detonating in M1A1 launch tubes were received by Army Ordnance at Ogden Arsenal and other production facilities. At

16675-421: The rare occasions when it could be used against the much thinner armor typically fitted to the lower sides, undersides, and tops of enemy tanks. To hit the bottom of an enemy tank, the Bazooka operator had to wait until the tank was surmounting a steep hill or other obstruction, while hitting the top armor usually necessitated firing the rocket from the upper story of a building or a similar, elevated, position. Even

16820-449: The rocket motor and fin assembly of the M6A1, but replaced the anti-tank warhead with a white phosphorus (WP) smoke head. WP smoke not only acts as a visibility screen, but its burning particles can cause severe injuries to skin. The M10 was therefore used to mark targets, to blind enemy gunners or vehicle drivers, or to drive troops out of bunkers and dugouts. The 2.36-inch incendiary rocket T31

16965-482: The shaped charge. There has been research into using the very high-performance but sensitive explosive CL-20 in shaped-charge warheads, but, at present, due to its sensitivity, this has been in the form of the PBX composite LX-19 (CL-20 and Estane binder). A 'waveshaper' is a body (typically a disc or cylindrical block) of an inert material (typically solid or foamed plastic, but sometimes metal, perhaps hollow) inserted within

17110-472: The side armour of the main battle tanks, they can cause serious damage to their external fittings such as periscopes and machine guns, and disable or even destroy less well armoured and support vehicles, helicopters, low-flying UAVs , and personnel. One of the more common projectile types in MPAT-systems are rocket projectiles, commonly referred to as rocket-propelled grenades , a backronym originating from

17255-483: The target at low impact angles. In late 1943, another 2.36-in rocket type was adopted, the M6A3, for use with the newly standardized M9 rocket launcher. The M6A3 was 19.4 inches (493 mm) long, and weighed 3.38 lb (1.53 kg). It had a blunted, more round nose to improve target effect at low angles, and a new circular fin assembly to improve flight stability. The M6A3 was capable of penetrating 3.5–4 inches (89–102 mm) of armor plate. Battery problems in

17400-462: The thin armor plate used by the Japanese and destroyed the vehicle. Overall, the M1A1, M9, and M9A1 rocket launchers were viewed as useful and effective weapons during World War II, though they had been primarily employed against enemy emplacements and fixed fortifications, not as anti-tank weapons. General Dwight Eisenhower later described it as one of the four "tools of victory" which won World War II for

17545-649: The use of a variety of unconventional MPAT-systems, such as the German Hafthohlladung magnet mine, the Japanese Shitotsubakurai lunge mine, the British sticky bomb hand grenade and PIAT direct fire spigot mortar . Arguably, the first MANPATS could be anti-tank rifles developed during World War I . An anti-tank rifle is a rifle designed to penetrate the armour of vehicles, particularly tanks . The usefulness of rifles for this purpose ran from

17690-482: The user elevating the Bazooka so the rear sight lined up with the selected "rung" on the front sight. On the M9, the ladder sight was replaced by the General Electric T43 aperture sight. Ranging was accomplished by looking through the rear sight's peep hole while rotating the assembly (which had graduations of 100, 200, and 300 yards) so it lined up with the blade positioned at the muzzle. In September 1944, during

17835-636: The war, after participating in an armor penetration test involving a German Panther tank using both the Raketenpanzerbüchse , or RPzB 54 Panzerschreck and the U.S. M9 Bazooka, Corporal Donald E. Lewis of the U.S. Army informed his superiors that the Panzerschreck was "far superior to the American Bazooka": 'I was so favorably impressed [by the Panzerschreck ] I was ready to take after the Krauts with their own weapon.' The M1 Bazooka fared much better on

17980-403: The warhead diameter to 8.8 cm (among other minor changes) and widely issuing it as the Raketenpanzerbüchse " Panzerschreck " ("rocket anti-armor rifle 'tank terror ' "). Near the end of the war, the Japanese developed a similar weapon, the Type 4 70 mm AT rocket launcher , which featured a rocket-propelled grenade of a different design. During the Korean War , the M1 and M9 Bazooka series

18125-567: The weapon had actually stopped an enemy tank. Further issue of the Bazooka was suspended in May 1943. During the Allied invasion of Sicily, small numbers of the M1A1 Bazooka (using an improved rocket, the M6A1) were used in combat by U.S. forces. The M1A1 accounted for four medium German tanks and a heavy Tiger I , with the latter being knocked out by an improbable hit through the driver's vision slot. When

18270-457: The weapon was not always effective, as these softer structures often reduced the force of the warhead's impact enough to prevent detonation of the explosive charge. Later in the Pacific war, Army and Marine units often used the M2 flamethrower to attack such emplacements. In the few instances in the Pacific where the Bazooka was used against tanks and armored vehicles, the rocket's warhead easily penetrated

18415-610: The weapon's performance proved disappointing, Thomanek continued his developmental work, collaborating with Hubert Schardin at the Waffeninstitut der Luftwaffe (Air Force Weapons Institute) in Braunschweig. By 1937, Schardin believed that hollow-charge effects were due to the interactions of shock waves. It was during the testing of this idea that, on February 4, 1938, Thomanek conceived the shaped-charge explosive (or Hohlladungs-Auskleidungseffekt (hollow-charge liner effect)). (It

18560-416: The well casing, weakening the material, or serve as crack nucleation sites, and the slug breaks up on impact. The dispersion of the second phase can be achieved also with castable alloys (e.g., copper) with a low-melting-point metal insoluble in copper, such as bismuth, 1–5% lithium, or up to 50% (usually 15–30%) lead; the size of inclusions can be adjusted by thermal treatment. Non-homogeneous distribution of

18705-419: The zinc layer vaporizes and a slug is not formed; the disadvantage is an increased cost and dependency of jet formation on the quality of bonding the two layers. Low-melting-point (below 500 °C) solder - or braze -like alloys (e.g., Sn 50 Pb 50 , Zn 97.6 Pb 1.6 , or pure metals like lead, zinc, or cadmium) can be used; these melt before reaching the well casing, and the molten metal does not obstruct

18850-642: Was Gustav Adolf Thomer who in 1938 first visualized, by flash radiography, the metallic jet produced by a shaped-charge explosion. ) Meanwhile, Henry Hans Mohaupt , a chemical engineer in Switzerland, had independently developed a shaped-charge munition in 1935, which was demonstrated to the Swiss, French, British, and U.S. militaries. During World War II, shaped-charge munitions were developed by Germany ( Panzerschreck , Panzerfaust , Panzerwurfmine , Mistel ), Britain ( No. 68 AT grenade , PIAT , Beehive cratering charge),

18995-515: Was a German mining engineer at that time; in a mining journal, he advocated a conical space at the forward end of a blasting charge to increase the explosive's effect and thereby save powder. The idea was adopted, for a time, in Norway and in the mines of the Harz mountains of Germany, although the only available explosive at the time was gunpowder, which is not a high explosive and hence incapable of producing

19140-524: Was a considerable achievement since the launcher's sights had been fabricated that morning from a wire coat hanger bent with a broken nail. The trial was being watched by various senior officers, among them the chief of research and engineering in the Ordnance Department , Major General Gladeon M. Barnes . Barnes was delighted by the performance of the system and fired it himself, but commented: "It sure looks like Bob Burns' bazooka". The development of

19285-424: Was a tube that... happened to be the same size as the grenade that we were turning into a rocket. I said, That's the answer! Put the tube on a soldier's shoulder with the rocket inside, and away it goes. At the launcher's first firing test, Uhl wore a welding helmet , but discovered that there was not enough exhaust from the rocket to require protective equipment. The prototype launcher was demonstrated in May 1942 at

19430-408: Was also operated by a two-man team and had a rate of fire of six shots per minute. As with its predecessor, the M20 could also fire rockets with either practice (M29A2) or WP smoke (T127E3/M30) warheads. Having learned from experience of the sensitivity of the Bazooka and its ammunition to moisture and harsh environments, the ammunition for the new weapon was packaged in moisture-resistant packaging, and

19575-434: Was an M10 variant with an incendiary warhead designed to ignite fires in enemy-held structures and unarmored vehicles, or to destroy combustible supplies, ammunition, and materiel ; it was not often utilized. The original M1 and M1A1 rocket launchers were equipped with simple fixed sights and used launch tubes without reinforcements. During the war, the M1A1 received a number of running modifications. The battery specification

19720-435: Was between 1100K and 1200K, much closer to the melting point of copper (1358 K) than previously assumed. This temperature is consistent with a hydrodynamic calculation that simulated the entire experiment. In comparison, two-color radiometry measurements from the late 1970s indicate lower temperatures for various shaped-charge liner material, cone construction and type of explosive filler. A Comp-B loaded shaped charge with

19865-413: Was changed to a larger, standard battery cell size, resulting in complaints of batteries getting stuck in the wood shoulder rest (the compartment was later reamed out to accommodate the larger cells). The M1 and M1A1 used rear iron sights and front rectangular "ladder" sights positioned at the muzzles. The vertical sides of the ladder sight were inscribed with graduations of 100, 200, 300, and 400 yards, with

20010-469: Was done to make the weapon more convenient to carry, particularly for use by airborne forces. The final two-piece launcher was standardized as the M9A1. In September 1944, the fragile folding aperture sight was replaced by a Polaroid optical reflector sight. However, the long list of incorporated modifications increased the launcher's tube length to 61 inches (1.55 m), with an overall empty weight of 14.3 lb (6.5 kg). From its original conception as

20155-647: Was followed by the 90 mm M20 rocket launcher being named "Super Bazooka". The bazooka concept was quickly copied by Nazi Germany and turned into the 88 mm Panzerschreck . Today the most widely distributed and used rocket launcher in the world is the Soviet RPG-7 . Its basic design was developed by the Soviets shortly after World War II in the form of the RPG-2 , which used a recoilless cartridge solution instead of rockets. A recoilless rifle (RR) or recoilless gun

20300-481: Was improved and designated M6A1 , and the new ammunition was issued with the improved M1A1 launcher. After the M6, several alternative warheads were introduced. Many older M1 launchers were modified to M1A1 standards in July and August 1943. Batches of M6 rockets designated M6A2 were overhauled with the latest ignition systems and had been modified to be able to be fired from the upgraded M1 launchers. The M6A3 rocket featured

20445-461: Was not deployed in that theater. In November 1942 during Operation Torch , early production versions of the M1 launcher and M6 rocket were hastily supplied to some of the U.S. invasion forces during the landings in North Africa . On the night before the landings, General Dwight D. Eisenhower was shocked to discover from a subordinate that none of his troops had received any instruction in the use of

20590-516: Was overrun by 33 T-34-85s. One of the North Korean T-34s received a total of 22 shots on the side and rear at about 10 meters in distance, but survived the attack. On July 8, Colonel Robert R. Martin , commander of the 34th Regiment of the U.S. 24th Infantry Division , was killed while operating a 2.36-inch rocket launcher to prevent North Korean tanks from advancing. Additionally, ordnance authorities received numerous combat reports regarding

20735-404: Was replaced by the larger caliber M20 Super Bazooka . The term "bazooka" still sees informal use as a generic term referring to any shoulder fired ground-to-ground/ ground-to-air missile weapon (mainly rocket-propelled grenade launchers or recoilless rifles ), and as an expression that heavy measures are being taken. The name "bazooka" comes from an extension of the word bazoo , which

20880-458: Was reprinted in the February 1945 issue of Popular Science , describing how shaped-charge warheads worked. It was this article that at last revealed to the general public how the United States Army bazooka actually worked against armored vehicles during WWII. In 1910, Egon Neumann of Germany discovered that a block of TNT , which would normally dent a steel plate, punched a hole through it if

21025-488: Was standardized as the M10. However, the M10 grenade weighed 3.5 lb (1.6 kg), proving difficult to throw by hand and too heavy to be launched as a rifle grenade . The only practical way to use the weapon was for an infantryman to place it directly on the tank, a dangerous and unlikely means of delivery in most combat situations. A smaller, less powerful, version of the M10, the M9 , was then developed, which could be fired from

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