At the end of most battles, it is the infantry who ultimately defeat the enemy and hold their positions. However, the reality of modern warfare is that if the infantry rely solely on their own gunners, they will be at a very disadvantage.
No experienced marksman or competent commander wants to go into action without the support of platoon and company machine guns, company mortars, and direct-fire weapons, including man-portable missiles. Their effective use can have not only a decisive influence on the outcome of the battle, but also significantly reduce losses. The ability to properly deploy these support weapons against an opponent on the battlefield is an art that distinguishes a well-trained and professional combat commander, experienced in serious military affairs and fighting armed formations, no matter what kind of uniform they wear or wear at all.
Machine guns
The appearance of the machine gun changed the battlefield. The ability of the machine gun to deliver accurate and sustained fire makes it the weapon of choice not only to maintain an effective defensive position, but also to support the attack. The light machine gun is sometimes the standard weapon of the infantry squad. Its inherent dispersal, along with the common practice of hand-firing, makes it more of a suppressive weapon than accurate, aimed fire. Suppression fire is intended to distract the enemy (as they say, he could not "stick his head out") and to ensure freedom of movement for his forces. All of the above is true for the FN M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) 5, 56 mm light machine gun. One such machine gun is armed with each of the two fire groups of the infantry squad of the American army. M249 SAW is powered from detachable link tape; shooting, as a rule, is carried out from a bipod. The German army at the squad level is armed with a Heckler & Koch MG4 light machine gun also in caliber 5, 56x45 mm. As was the case with its World War II predecessor, its separation tactics revolve around these weapons. The Russian army and many countries where Russian weapons were supplied also have a two-man light machine gun in service with each squad. For many years, the main weapon of this class was the Degtyarev light machine gun (RPD) of 7, 62x39 mm caliber with a round box with a belt for 100 rounds. At the squad level, it was replaced by a Kalashnikov light machine gun, originally also of 7.62 mm caliber. Later, the RPK-74 was released chambered for 5, 45x39 mm with power from box magazines for 30 or 45 rounds or a drum for 100 rounds. The M249, MG 4 and RPD / RPK light machine guns of different countries illustrate the military's desire to use the same ammunition (and often the magazine) in the rifleman's assault rifle and the squad's light machine gun. Their range is about 800 meters.
The company is armed with heavier machine guns, usually 7.62 mm. Their combat effectiveness is significantly increased when firing from a tripod, and when using the rotation and vertical guidance mechanism, the effectiveness and accuracy of fire increases significantly at distances up to 1100 meters. A spokesman for FN America, manufacturer of MAG58 / M240, noted that “the most important feature of a machine gun is its ability to provide a high density of fire for a long time. It is a means that allows you to win a clash, get out of the battle when you are ambushed, or provide fire cover so that your forces can make a maneuver."
The armies of the United States and many NATO countries use the FH MAG58 / M240 machine gun as a standard belt-fed weapon. The German army is armed with the Rheinmetall MG3 machine gun, an updated version of the very successful MG42 single machine gun from the Second World War. In 2010, it was replaced by a single machine gun N & K MG5 (NK121) chambered for 7, 62x51 mm NATO. The Russian army is armed with a PK machine gun and its improved version of the PKM. These two machine guns are powered by non-disintegrating link belts that feed cartridges from a 100-round knapsack magazine or a 200-round cartridge box. The key feature of these machine guns is their ability to provide continuous fire, which is ensured by the use of heavier barrels with a quick change device. This allows a crew of three or four to open continuous short bursts, either along defensive lines or in support of attacks by rifle squads. In the latter case, these machine guns, when using vertical and horizontal aiming mechanisms, can accurately "lay" the bullets just a few meters in front of the advancing infantrymen.
Infantry mortars
Infantry mortars provide combat units with relatively close, quickly reacting indirect fire. Mortar 51 mm, as a rule, is served by one operator, smooth-bore mortars of caliber 60 mm or 81 mm are serviced by the crew (Russian and Chinese models have a caliber of 82 mm), while mechanized / motorized units can service mortars up to 120 mm. The mortar, due to its large vertical guidance angles, allows you to fire at targets behind shelters, trees and buildings or in lowlands that cannot be reached with traditional direct-fire weapons, for example, machine guns. The most common type of ammunition is a high-explosive fragmentation, however, smoke projectiles are also used to set curtains and mark targets and lighting projectiles that throw out a pyrotechnic composition on a parachute. The US Army and Marine Corps, plus the armies of five other countries, including the Australian, are armed with a light 60-mm M224 mortar. Its range is 3490 meters, and the weight of 22 kg is distributed among the members of the crew. Based on the urgent requirements of the units fighting in Afghanistan, the British army in 2007 re-adopted the 60-mm light M6-895 mortar with a range of 3800 meters. These 60-mm mortars also have a small minimum range, which allows them to fire at the attacking enemy even at ultra-short distances. With this in mind, Saab Dynamics offers its universal ammunition for the destruction of manpower and materiel M1061 MAP AM (Multi-Purpose Anti-Personnel Anti-Material round), which is characterized by the controlled nature of the dispersion of fragments.
As a company-level weapon, 81 and 82 mm mortars are in service with the armies of many countries. The American M252 medium mortar originates from the British L16 model (still in service with the 17th Army), while modern materials were widely used to reduce mass. This process continued when the Marines deployed the M252A2 model in 2015, which is 2.5 kg lighter and has improved barrel cooling, which allowed for a longer duration of fire. The range of actual fire of this mortar is 5935 meters when firing a high-explosive fragmentation projectile with a radius of destruction of 10 meters. The L-3 M734A1 multi-mode fuse can be set in the following modes: remote firing, near-surface, impact or delayed. Smoke mines, white light and infrared lighting mines, and even a precision guided projectile (PGM) projectile are also available.
PGM mines open up new possibilities for company-level mortars. As a result of cooperation between General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GT-OTS) and BAE Systems, an 81-mm projectile was developed as part of the Roll Control Guided Mortar project, with an accuracy of 4 meters at a distance of 4000 meters. Significantly heavier and larger 120-mm mortars are more suitable for installation on a car or towing and therefore are most often a battalion-level weapon, while they are distinguished by greater range and fire efficiency. They are particularly well suited for firing PGM projectiles. The Orbital ATK XM395 projectile combines GPS guidance and control surfaces in a single block, which is screwed in instead of standard fuses, which made it possible to achieve an accuracy of less than 10 meters.
Direct fire weapon
The first "direct fire support weapon" was put into service mainly with the aim of increasing the capabilities of an infantry company in the fight against tanks. Well-known examples of such weapons are the American 2, 75-inch bazooka and the German Panzerfaust grenade launcher from the Second World War. These systems and the vast majority of subsequent weapons are characterized by almost no recoil, since the exhaust gases of the fired ammunition are released through the rear of the weapon. Initially, they were intended to combat armored vehicles and therefore, for the first time, ammunition with cumulative anti-tank warheads prevailed. However, other targets included dugouts, emplacements, buildings, and enemy personnel. Later, grenade launchers with a rifled barrel and low recoil appeared, having a long range and accuracy. The types of ammunition, including high-explosive and anti-personnel, have been optimized for various purposes and tasks. In NATO, the popular calibers were 57 mm, 75 mm, 84 mm, 90 mm and 106 mm, and in the Warsaw Pact countries 82 mm and 107 mm.
Due to its versatility, the recoilless grenade launcher is currently still in demand by the military, despite the development of guided missiles, which were supposed to become the main means of fighting armored vehicles. The Carl Gustav 84 mm grenade launcher is a striking representative of this type of weapon, perfectly matching the tasks of a small infantry unit. Carl Gustav was first put into service in 1948 and is in service with 45 countries. The Swedish developer, currently Saab Bofors Dynamics, has continuously improved this system throughout its life. The newest version of the M4 has been reduced, the weight and length of the model is 6, 8 kg, and the length is 950 mm. It charges from the breech and. as a rule, it is equipped with either various optical sights with a magnification of 3x, or a collimator sight, or it can be equipped with a night sight and a laser rangefinder. Various types of ammunition are offered for the grenade launcher: high-explosive fragmentation, cumulative, smoke, lighting, dual-use high-explosive fragmentation and an active-rocket grenade. The firing range at stationary targets is 700 meters, and with an active-rocket grenade up to 1000 meters. In addition, projectiles for urban combat are available: concrete-piercing, for destroying fortifications and for shooting from an enclosed space.
Portable missile systems
The portable anti-tank missile system with guided missiles was developed to provide advanced units with a means of dealing with armored vehicles at long distances. The missile must be lightweight and compact enough to be carried by one soldier, easy to handle, and must have sufficient range and accuracy to reliably destroy the target. At the time of the appearance of such complexes, the emphasis was on their effectiveness in the fight against tanks and other armored vehicles, and therefore the designation Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) was assigned to missiles of this class. However, hostilities in the 90s in theaters such as Iraq, demonstrated the expanded use of ATGMs against a number of targets of a different type, including remote fortified positions, snipers in the windows of buildings and structures, and the so-called "technical vehicles" (light vehicles used rebels). In addition, of great concern was the vulnerability of the ATGM crews, which, due to the level of technology available at that time, were forced to continuously accompany the target for at least 12 seconds after launch, at the risk of being fired upon by the enemy. As a result, new requirements for ATGM calculations were identified, which provided for the adoption of ammunition, optimized not only to combat the most advanced MBTs, but also to combat shelters, buildings and manpower. In addition, technologies have been developed that allow the operator to lock the target for automatic tracking and launch a missile with a homing system in the “fire-and-forget” mode.
The Raytheon FGM-148 Javelin missile, which entered service in 1996, was one of the first systems with an autonomous guidance system. It has an infrared homing head, which determines the signature of the target captured by the operator in his sight. After launch, the missile is guided to the target independently of the operator. The initial range of 2,500 meters was increased in the newest version to 4,750 meters. The Javelin rocket weighs 22.3 kg and has a length of 1.2 meters; As a rule, the complex, which includes a control / launch unit and one / two missiles, is serviced by a two-person crew.
Work is underway to develop a new control unit that will be 40 percent lighter. The control unit will also include a new high-resolution display, built-in control sticks, color camera, built-in GPS, laser rangefinder and bearing pointer. Due to the expansion of the set of targets for the Javelin complex (now it is not only tanks), a variant of the FGM-148E rocket with a warhead with an optimized fragmentation-explosive effect was developed.
The MBDA company, which produced the Milan ATGM, which is quite popular around the world, has now developed a new MMP (Missile Moyenne Portee) missile for the French army. The universal missile of this complex is capable of destroying fixed and mobile targets, ranging from light vehicles to the latest MBT, as well as manpower and defensive structures. MMR operates in three modes: homing, optical data transmission and target acquisition after launch. The latter mode allows the shooter to launch a missile, then lock the target using the optical channel and initiate the lock on the target. The warhead of the rocket has two selectable modes: armor-piercing for penetrating armor with a thickness of more than 1000 mm under the reactive armor blocks and concrete-piercing for making a gap in a concrete wall with a thickness of two meters of concrete from a distance of up to 5000 meters. It is possible to safely launch an MPP rocket from confined spaces. Initial deliveries to the French army took place in 2017, a total of 400 systems will be delivered.
The universal anti-tank missile system Kornet-EM of the Russian company KBP gained worldwide fame after it proved to be excellent in the Syrian conflict. The complex, designed to destroy tanks with reactive armor, light armored vehicles, fortifications and slow-flying air targets, includes missiles of two different types: one with a tandem warhead capable of penetrating 1300 mm of armor, and the second with a thermobaric warhead for structures and unarmored machines. Automatic guidance along the laser beam is provided at a distance of 8 or 10 km, respectively. The newest version of the Kornet complex with a launcher on a tripod and a rocket weighs 33 kg. Thanks to its fame, "earned" in real military operations, it is not surprising that the complex has achieved great success, over 26 countries and a number of non-state structures have adopted it.
The manual NLAW complex goes into service with the British and Swedish armies. The missile of the complex, developed by Saab Dynamics, is guided according to the "fire-and-forget" principle. The missile can attack stationary and moving targets at a range of 20 to 800 meters. Before launching, the operator must accompany the target for several seconds, then he launches the rocket, which flies towards the target in the calculated guidance mode along the line of sight. With a grenade launcher weight of only 12.5 kg, it is relatively easy to carry. Starting can be done from confined spaces. The missile can attack from above, which is good for fighting tanks and armored vehicles, or it can attack directly, which is suitable for various fortifications and buildings. In order to increase the safety of the operator, the rocket flies out of the launch tube at a low speed and then accelerates to 200 m / s. Unlike the Javelin or MMR systems, the NLAW grenade launcher is more a system of an individual soldier, and not a serviceable one. After NLAW production began, it was bought by six armies, including Saudi Arabia, Finland, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Perfect combat forces the opponent to simultaneously react to the use of several means directed against his forces when he is faced with a dilemma: what is the first thing to react to without leaving vulnerable zones. Firing from machine guns and mortars in combination with direct fire and guided missile launches allows you to knock out the enemy from key positions and then maneuver your forces to put him at a disadvantage. The ability of an infantry company to defeat an opponent is a direct consequence of the organized positioning and effective use of the unit's infantry support weapons.
