Brutal Chinese Weapon, Tailor-Made for Insurgents

[Woodmonkey]

Brutal Chinese Weapon, Tailor-Made for Insurgents


Portable rocket launchers like the RPG-7 are some of the deadliest, and most common, weapons in the guerrilla arsenal. The Chinese are now producing a new warheads that'll make the weapons even more lethal -- capable of knocking down a three-story building from 200 meters away.

ThermobJane's reveals that China's Xinshidai Company is churning out thermobaric warheads for the venerable RPG-7. Thermobaric explosives are 'volumetric' – the explosion comes from a cloud rather than a point source, and produces a blast that lasts longer. Even though this increase in duration is measured in milliseconds, it makes thermobarics far more destructive than condensed explosives, against both buildings and people.

The Russians were first to produce a portable thermobaric rocket with the RPO-A Shmel (which seems to be one of these that produces many of the casualties in Beslan ). The US followed with the SMAW-NE, which was used to great effect against buildings in Fallujah where one round "would incinerate the target or literally level the structure."

The Chinese version, called the WPF 2004, looks to be just as lethal. According to Jane's, it's a "fin-stabilised rocket" with "a launch weight of 3.2 kg and becomes armed 35 m to 50 m from the launcher. Muzzle velocity is 89 m/s with an effective accurate range quoted as 200 m against a 0.45x0.45 m target."

In other words, you can aim at a window and knock down a two or three story building from 200 meters away.

But if this type of weapon is not new, why worry? First, thermobaric rounds represent a particular threat to US forces. The type of blast injuries they cause are much harder to treat in the field, and are not prevented by body armor -- in fact, armor may even make injuries worse. Armored vehicles provide little protection unless they're "buttoned up." Buildings stop being cover and start being a liability. A study by the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory's Project Albert indicated that thermobaric weapons in enemy hands would significantly increase US casualties.

Rpg7copter Secondly, the RPG is already in common use by guerrilla and insurgent forces around the world. They have a lot of experience with RPGs and they like them. This is not a fancy new piece of equipment that takes any new training, it’s simply a new type of ammunition: plug and play.

Thirdly, the Chinese are not always too discriminating about who they sell to, and are particularly difficult to influence in this respect. In 2006, China was singled out by Amnesty International for being . one of the world's most secretive and irresponsible arms exporters. The group claimed that Chinese weapons fueled conflict in a number of countries including the the Sudan and Burma. And, of course, they have supplied a heap of arms to Iran. In 2004, the US imposed sanctions on a Chinese company for "engaging in missile technology proliferation activities." That company was Xinshidai, makers of the new rocket.

Maybe China won't be exporting large numbers of the thermobaric WPF 2004 to the world's troublespots. But I wouldn't count on it.

The Source