Although by the beginning of the war with the Soviet Union, the Luftwaffe had a significant number of dive bombers and fighter-bombers, work was underway in Germany to create armored attack aircraft. Such a machine to support their own and destroy enemy tanks was developed on the instructions of the Ministry of Aviation. According to the requirements issued by 1937, in order to reduce the affected area and save weight, the aircraft had to be single. It was proposed to increase survivability by using two air-cooled engines. The lack of a defensive firing point to protect the rear hemisphere had to be compensated for by escort fighters.
The aircraft, designated Hs 129, first flew in May 1939. At the time of its creation, this machine had no equal in terms of security level. The front part of the cockpit was made of 12 mm of armor, the floor was the same thickness, the walls of the cockpit were 6 mm thick. The pilot sat in a chair with an armored backrest and an armored headrest. The transparent parts of the lantern are made of 75 mm bulletproof glass. The front of the cockpit was guaranteed to withstand shelling by armor-piercing rifle-caliber bullets, and with a high degree of probability protected from heavy machine gun fire. To reduce the weight of the armor, the cockpit was designed very narrow, its width at the level of the pilot's shoulders was only 60 cm. The low position of the seat caused the use of a very short control stick, which the pilots did not like. Due to the tightness, it was necessary to abandon the installation of a normal set of control devices in the cockpit. Due to the limited space on the dashboard, engine control devices were placed on the inner sides of the engine nacelles. The collimator sight was housed in an armored casing in front of the windshield. The price for good protection was a very poor view on the sides. There was no talk at all about visually controlling the back hemisphere.
The aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight of 5000 kg was equipped with two French-made Gnome-Rһone 14M 04/05 air-cooled engines with a capacity of 700 hp. The maximum flight speed at low altitude without external suspensions was 350 km / h. Practical range - 550 km. The built-in armament consisted of two 20mm MG-151/20 cannons and two 7.92mm MG-17 machine guns. The external sling could carry a combat load with a total weight of up to 250 kg - including one 250 kg aerial bomb, or up to four 50 kg bombs or AV-24 bomb containers. Instead of a large-caliber bombs or a fuel tank, at the central hub, as a rule, a container with a 30-mm MK-101 cannon with ammunition for 30 rounds, or a container with four MG-17 machine guns of 7.92 mm caliber was placed. Various options for interchangeable weapons made it possible to prepare the attack aircraft for a combat mission, depending on the specific task.
Tests of the assault "Henschel" revealed a lot of shortcomings. The main complaints were tightness and poor visibility from the cockpit, insufficient thrust-to-weight ratio due to weak and unreliable engines, and low bomb load. In case of failure of one engine, the plane could not fly without lowering on the remaining one. It turned out that the Hs 129 was not able to dive at an angle of more than 30 °, in which case the load on the control stick during de-diving exceeded the pilot's physical capabilities. The pilots, as a rule, tried not to exceed the dive angle of 15 °. At large values, there was a possibility that the plane with bombs on the external sling might simply not go up and crash into the ground. Good stability at low altitude made it possible to accurately fire at the selected target, but it was impossible to quickly change the flight trajectory.
As a result, the elimination of the deficiencies took about two years. The first aircraft of the serial modification Hs-129B-1 began arriving at the specially created assault force Sch. G 1 in January 1942. The preparation of the flight crew took five months, during which three aircraft were destroyed. In May 1942, the first German armored attack aircraft took part in hostilities on the Crimean peninsula. Here they were successful, the cockpit armor successfully withstood the fire from small arms, and the absence of Soviet fighters in the sky allowed them to act with impunity. Although the sorties were carried out quite intensively, only one Hs-129 was lost from anti-aircraft fire in two weeks of fighting in the Crimea. However, in conditions of high dustiness of the air, the unreliable operation of the "Gnome-Ronn" motors, on which there were no air filters, was revealed. Dust also clogged the propeller hubs, making it difficult to start the engines. It was a common occurrence when French motors did not deliver full power, and often stopped suddenly or caught fire in the air. The vulnerability of the protected, but not covered with armor, fuel and oil tanks was revealed.
Measures to improve engine reliability and some improvements in the fuel system were implemented on the Hs-129V-2 modification. The release of this model began in May 1942. Taking into account the wishes of the combat pilots, improvements were made to the Hs-129В-2. Due to the installation of additional equipment and armoring of engines, the maximum take-off weight of the Hs-129В-2 increased by 200 kg, and the flight range decreased to 680 km. Also, the shape of the nose of the fuselage has changed, due to which the forward and downward visibility has improved. Beginning in December 1942, the aircraft were equipped with petrol cabin heaters. A striking external difference between the airplanes equipped with stoves was a large air intake hole in the forward fuselage.
After their combat debut in Crimea, the Hensheli was transferred to Kharkov, where they took part in repelling the Soviet counteroffensive in May 1942. Here, the anti-aircraft cover and countermeasures of the fighters were much stronger, and the attack squadrons lost 7 Hs-129s. At the same time, according to German data, with the help of 30-mm MK-101 cannons, the Henschel pilots operating in the Voronezh and Kharkov regions managed to knock out 23 Soviet tanks.
By the second half of 1942, relatively few squadrons armed with Hs-129s with 30-mm cannons became a kind of "fire brigade", which the German command, when threatened with a breakthrough of Soviet tanks, was transferred from one sector of the front to another. So, on November 19, 1942, after about 250 Soviet tanks broke through the defenses of the Italian troops in the area between the Don and Volga rivers, six Hs 129B-1s were used against them. According to photo-machine gun data, the Henschel pilots were credited with destroying 10 tanks in two days of fighting. However, the sorties of armored tank destroyers in this sector of the front could not influence the course of the battles. By mid-1943, there were five separate Hs 129B-2 anti-tank squadrons on the Eastern Front. To participate in Operation Citadel, four of them were concentrated by the beginning of June at a separate airfield in Zaporozhye. At the same time, the staff of each squadron was increased from 12 to 16 aircraft. In total, 68 "tank destroyers" were prepared by the beginning of the battle near Kursk. The attack pilots who fought near Kursk from 5 to 11 July announced the destruction of at least 70 Soviet tanks.
As mentioned in the previous publication, conventional 30-mm armor-piercing shells were ineffective against thirty-fours, and shells with a carbide core were always in short supply. In this regard, attempts were made to strengthen the anti-tank weapons of the Hs-129. By the beginning of the battles near Kursk, new suspended 30-mm MK 103 cannons were added to the Henschels' armament.
Compared to the MK 101 cannon, the MK 103 rate of fire was twice as high and reached 400 rds / min, and the ammunition load was increased to 100 shells. In terms of the complex of combat characteristics, it was, perhaps, the best German aircraft cannon. It was distinguished by its comparative simplicity of design and widespread use of stamping and welding. The mass of the gun was 142 kg, and the weight of a cartridge box for 100 shells was 95 kg.
Although the use of the 30mm sintered-core projectiles known as the Hartkernmunition was limited, the Henschel pilots had some success with Soviet tanks. In the course of hostilities, the optimal tactics were developed: the tank was attacked from the stern, while the pilot reduced the speed and gently dived at the target, firing from the cannon until the ammunition was completely used up. This increased the likelihood of hitting the tank, but during the sortie it was really possible to hit no more than one armored target. Some experienced pilots allegedly managed to achieve an accuracy of fire, in which 60% of the shells hit the target. The timely start of the attack was of great importance, this required a lot of experience, skill and intuition of the pilot, since it was very difficult to correct the flight of a heavy machine during a gentle dive.
To increase the anti-tank potential, the next step was the installation on the Hs-129B-2 / R3 of the 37-mm VK 3.7 cannon with 12 rounds of ammunition. However, the already low flight data of the Henschel fell after the suspension of the 37-mm gun. The pilots noted the more complicated piloting technique, high vibration and a strong dive moment when firing. Due to the low practical rate of fire, 2-4 aimed shots could be fired during one attack. As a result, the large-scale construction of the Hs-129B-2 / R3 with the 37-mm VK 3.7 cannon was abandoned. The 50 mm VK 5 cannon had about the same practical rate of fire with comparable weight, but it was not mounted on the Hs-129.
The largest-caliber gun mounted on the Henschel was the VK 7.5 75 mm cannon. In the fall of 1943, a similar weapon was tried to be used on the Ju 88P-1 tank destroyer. But due to the low practical rate of fire, the firing efficiency turned out to be low. However, this did not stop the designers of the Henschel company. Based on the experience of using the 50-mm VK 5 cannon in aviation, a similar pneumo-electric reloading mechanism with a radial magazine for 12 shells was created for the 75-mm gun (according to other sources, 16 shells). The mass of the gun with a mechanism for sending shells and ammunition was 705 kg. To reduce recoil, the gun was equipped with a muzzle brake.
Naturally, there was no longer any talk about the suspension of any kind of combat load on an aircraft with a 75-mm cannon. From the built-in armament, a pair of 7.92 mm machine guns remained, which could be used for zeroing. The practical rate of fire of the VK 7.5 was 30 rds / min. During one attack, the pilot, using the ZFR 3B telescopic sight, could fire 3-4 shots. In various sources, aircraft with 75 mm guns are referred to as Hs-129B-2 / R4 or Hs 129B-3 / Wa.
To mount the 75-mm gun on the Hs 129 attack aircraft, a bulky suspended gondola had to be used, which severely spoiled the aircraft's aerodynamics. Although the 75-mm VK 7.5 gun, created on the basis of the PaK-40L with manual loading, had excellent ballistics and could destroy any Soviet tanks, the increase in take-off weight and drag had the most negative impact on flight data. The maximum flight speed decreased to 300 km / h, and after the shot it decreased to 250 km / h.
Among the pilots, the tank destroyer with a 75-mm gun was named "Buchsenoffner" (German can opener). According to German sources, the effectiveness of these vehicles against armored vehicles was high. Against the background of such statements, the small number of attack aircraft equipped with 75-mm cannons looks very strange. Before the production of all variants of the Hs 129 was discontinued in September 1944, 25 units were built, several more were converted from the Hs-129B-2.
According to German statistics, the German aircraft industry produced 878 Hs-129s in total. At the same time, at field airfields, in the best scenario, the number of combat-ready attack aircraft did not exceed 80 units. Naturally, given the scale of hostilities on the Soviet-German front and the number of Soviet armored vehicles, such a fleet of anti-tank aircraft could not have a noticeable effect on the course of hostilities. I must admit that the Hs-129 had good survivability against anti-aircraft weapons of 7, 62 and partly 12, 7 mm. The aircraft could be easily repaired in the field and combat damage was quickly repaired. The pilots noted that during a forced landing "on the belly" due to the presence of an armored capsule, there was a good chance of surviving. At the same time, in the absence of fighter escort, Hs-129s often suffered heavy losses. The armored Henschel was considered a very easy target for our fighters. The combat use of the Hs-129 continued until the beginning of 1945, but by April there were almost no serviceable vehicles in service. The Henschel pilots, who survived in the Eastern Front meat grinder, for the most part switched to the assault versions of the FW 190
With the advent of understanding that the war in the East was dragging on, the German command also realized the need to replace the existing fighter-bombers and dive bombers. The ever-increasing strengthening of Soviet anti-aircraft artillery and an increase in the number of new types of fighters produced led to an increase in losses in the Luftwaffe strike squadrons. At the front, a fairly tenacious high-speed aircraft was required with powerful built-in weapons and a decent bomb load, capable, if necessary, to stand up for itself in air combat. The FW 190 fighter with an air-cooled engine was quite suitable for this role. The aircraft was created by Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau GmbH in 1939 and appeared on the Soviet-German front in September 1942.
Fw 190 fighters proved to be a difficult enemy in aerial combat, at the same time a fairly tenacious air-cooled radial engine provided protection for the pilot from the front, and powerful armament made him a good attack aircraft. The first modification specially adapted for strikes against ground targets was the FW-190A-3 / U3. On this machine, the canopy of the cockpit was made of 50 mm thick bulletproof glass. A bomb rack was installed under the fuselage for the suspension of one 500-kg or 250-kg, or four 50-kg bombs. The built-in armament consisted of two MG 17 rifle caliber machine guns in the fuselage and two MG 151/20 cannons in the wing.
The next massive shock modification Fw 190A-4 / U3 had an increased power engine BMW 801D-2 and armor protection with a total weight of 138 kg. The pilot was covered by an 8 mm thick armored backrest and a 13.5 mm sliding armored headrest. The cockpit was also protected from the rear by an additional armored partition. To protect the oil cooler, two armored rings were installed on the front of the engine hood. However, due to the strengthening of the anti-aircraft cover of the Soviet troops on the Fw 190A-5 / U3 modification, the weight of the armor was brought to 310 kg. Sheets of armor steel with a thickness of 5-6 mm were protected on the sides and bottom of the cockpit, and the lower part of the engine.
In connection with the appearance of a large number of modifications of the Fw 190 to avoid confusion, the Technical Department of the Ministry of Aviation introduced a new designation system in April 1943. For attack aircraft, the index "F" was introduced, the index "G" was received by fighter-bombers. Accordingly, the Fw 190A-4 / U3 received the designation Fw 190F-1, and the Fw 190A-5 / U3 was renamed Fw 190F-2.
The shock modifications of the Fw 190 were mainly equipped with a 14-cylinder air-cooled BMW-801 engine of variants C and D. During production, the engine was constantly improved, the power it developed increased from 1560 to 1700 hp. with. In May 1943, the Fw 190F-3 with a 1700 hp BMW 801D-2 engine went into production. Thanks to a more powerful engine and improved aerodynamics, the maximum speed of the aircraft increased by 20 km / h compared to the previous modification.
Fw 190F-3 with a maximum takeoff weight of 4925 kg had a range of 530 km. The flight speed with one 250 kg bomb was 585 km / h. After dropping the bomb load, the aircraft could reach a speed in horizontal flight of 630 km / h. Thus, the attack aircraft, having bombed in 1943, had every chance to break away from the Soviet fighters.
With good protection and good flight data, the first assault modifications of the Fw 190 were inferior in bombing accuracy to the Ju-87 dive bombers, and the 20-mm cannons could only fight lightly armored vehicles. In this regard, the question arose about strengthening the strike potential of the Focke-Wulfs.
On the next serial modification of the Fw 190F-8 attack aircraft, created on the basis of the Fw 190A-8 fighter, rifle-caliber machine guns replaced the 13-mm MG 131. In the reloading version, the bomb load reached 700 kg. Instead of bombs on the wing assemblies of the Fw 190F-8 / R3 modification, two 30-mm MK 103 cannons with 32 rounds of ammunition per barrel were suspended.
The use of 30-mm cannons slightly increased the anti-tank potential, but due to the increase in frontal resistance, the maximum speed now did not exceed 600 km / h. In addition, the weight of each MK 103 cannon with ammunition load was close to 200 kg, and their placement on the wing made the aircraft "brooding" when performing maneuvers. In addition, for effective shooting at tanks, it was necessary to have a high flight qualification. The best option was to attack the tank from the stern, at an angle of about 30-40 °. That is, not too shallow, but not too steep, so as to easily get out of the dive after the attack. Given that the plane quickly accelerated on a dive and sagged heavily when exiting it, the altitude and flight speed had to be carefully monitored. It was not possible to find exact data on the number of Fw 190F-8 / R3 built, but, apparently, there were not too many of them.
At the beginning of mass production, the Fw 190F-8 attack aircraft had the same booking scheme as the Fw 190F-3. But the planes, overweight with armor, were hopelessly losing in air battles to Soviet fighters. The only technique that allowed to get out of the battle was a dive, but this required a reserve of height. Subsequently, the armor of the attack aircraft was reduced to a minimum, thus increasing the flight data. Another innovation that appeared in the second half of 1944 was the extended cockpit canopy. Due to this, it was possible to improve the forward and downward visibility, which was very important when attacking ground targets.
The last serial modification was the Fw 190F-9 with a forced BMW 801TS engine with a capacity of 2000 hp, capable of developing a speed of 685 km / h in horizontal flight. The armament of the attack aircraft remained at the level of the Fw 190F-8. Externally, the aircraft was distinguished by an enlarged cockpit canopy. Due to the acute shortage of duralumin, the tail unit, flaps and ailerons were wooden on some of the machines.
On the basis of the Fw 190 fighter, the Fw 190G fighter-bombers were also produced. They were intended for bombing strikes at ranges of up to 600 km, that is, outside the combat radius of the Fw 190F attack aircraft. In order to increase the flight range, the aircraft were not additionally armored, machine-gun armament was dismantled on them, and the ammunition load of two 20-mm cannons was reduced to 150 shells per barrel.
Dumped fuel tanks were suspended under the wing. Since the aircraft of the Fw 190G-8 modification could take 1000 kg of aerial bombs, the chassis of the aircraft was strengthened. Although the fighter-bombers did not have special weapons and were not armored, they were often used to strike Soviet tanks. At the same time, the bombs were dropped from a gentle dive in one gulp, after which they escaped at maximum speed with a decrease.
With a greater bomb load compared to attack aircraft, the basing of Fw 190G fighter-bombers required long capital runways. However, a common drawback of all shock modifications of the Fw 190 was the high demand for runways, according to this criterion, the Focke-Wulf was much inferior to the Ju 87 dive bomber.
In total, about 20,000 Fw 190s of all modifications were built during the war years, about half of them are shock variants. An interesting trend was observed, on the Western Front and in the German air defense, fighters were mainly involved, and on the Eastern Front most of the Focke-Wulfs were shock.
But the Fokker with standard armament did not manage to become a full-fledged tank destroyer. In terms of bombing accuracy, the Fw 190 could not compare with the Ju 87 dive bomber, and in terms of the power of artillery weapons, with the exception of a few Fw 190F-8 / R3, it was inferior to the Hs-129B-2. In this regard, in Germany, at the final stage of the war, a feverish search was conducted for a truly effective aviation anti-tank weapon. Since the description of all experimental samples will take too much time, let us dwell on the aircraft weapons that were used in combat.
Contrary to popular belief, the Luftwaffe was armed with cumulative bombs. In 1942, a 4 kg SD 4-HL cumulative bomb with 60 mm armor penetration was tested at a 60 ° meeting angle with armor.
The SD 4-HL cumulative aerial bomb was created on the basis of the SD-4 fragmentation cluster bomb, it had a length of 315 and a diameter of 90 mm. As a legacy from a fragmentation bomb, the cumulative one received a cast-iron case, which gave a large number of fragments. The SD 4-HL bomb was loaded with a 340 g charge of an alloy of TNT with RDX. The charge was detonated by a fairly sophisticated instantaneous piezoelectric fuse.
Compared to the Soviet PTAB 2, 5-1, 5, this was a much more expensive and difficult product to manufacture. Unlike PTAB, loaded into the internal bomb bays, Il-2 and small bomb cassettes, the German SD 4-HL was used only from bomb cassettes with a mass of 250 and 500 kg that were opened in the air, the height of which was set before the combat sortie. According to the reference data, 44 cumulative submunitions were placed in a 250 kg cartridge, and 118 in 500 kg.
Compared to the Soviet PTAB, which, as a rule, were dropped from a horizontal flight, from a height of no more than 100 m and formed a continuous destruction zone with an area of 15x75 m, the SD 4-HL cluster bombs were dropped from a dive with aiming at a specific object. At the same time, it was necessary to very accurately monitor the height of the cluster bomb compartment, since the accuracy of bombing and the amount of dispersion of shaped bombs directly depended on this. The experience of the combat use of cassettes has shown that they are quite difficult to use. The optimal opening height was considered, at which an ellipse of breaks 50-55 m long was formed on the ground. With a lower dispersion of the SD 4-HL, the target might not be covered, and with a higher dispersion, the tank could be between the gaps. In addition, it was noted that up to 10% of cumulative bombs did not work due to the unreliable operation of the fuses, or the bombs had time to split before the explosion, hitting the armor. As a rule, one 500 kg cluster bomb on the battlefield could cover a maximum of 1-2 tanks. In practice, Hs-129 pilots preferred to use 30-mm cannons against armored vehicles, as they were easier to use.
Although the AB-250 and AB-500 cluster bombs, loaded with SD 4-HL cumulative ammunition, remained in service until the end of the war, they were used sporadically in battles. This was due to both the complexity of use and the longer preparation for a combat mission compared to other German types of bombs. In addition, their greater weight compared to PTAB 2, 5-1, 5 could not but affect the combat effectiveness of the SD 4-HL, due to which one carrier took a smaller number of anti-tank bombs.
In the second half of the war, the Luftwaffe considered unguided rockets as anti-tank weapons. Although the Air Force of the Red Army RS-82 and RS-132 were actively used against ground targets from the first days of the war, until 1943, not a single sample of such weapons was adopted in Germany.
The first example of aircraft missile armament was the 210-mm rocket, known as the Wfr. Gr. 21 "Doedel" (Wurframmen Granate 21) or BR 21 (Bordrakete 21). This ammunition is developed on the basis of a jet mine from a five-barreled 210-mm jet towed mortar Nb. W.42 (21cm Nebelwerfer 42). The launch of an aircraft rocket was carried out from a tube-type guide with a length of 1.3 m. The guides were fixed in the sockets for outboard fuel tanks. Like tanks, they could be dropped in flight. The stabilization of the projectile on the trajectory was due to rotation. For this, there were 22 inclined nozzles in its bottom.
The 210-mm NAR weighed 112.6 kg, of which 41 kg fell on a fragmentation warhead containing more than 10 kg of TNT-RDX alloy. At a maximum speed of 320 m / s, the aiming range of the launch did not exceed 1200 meters. The original Wfr. Gr. 21 was developed for firing at a dense formation of heavy bombers. As a rule, fighters Bf-109 and Fw-190 took one Wfr launcher under the wing. Gr. 21. Attempts were also made to use 210-mm rockets from Hs-129 attack aircraft. But large-caliber rockets proved to be of little use for hitting point moving targets. They gave too much dispersion, and the number of missiles on board was limited.
Also unsuccessful was the use of 280-mm high-explosive jet mines Wfr. Gr. 28 against tanks, the warhead of which contained 45, 4 kg of explosives. Two to four launchers in the form of a welded metal frame were suspended under the wing of Fw-190F-8 attack aircraft.
After launch, a heavy rocket mine gave a strong drawdown, which had to be taken into account when aiming. The suspension of a bulky launcher with a mine negatively affected the flight data of the attack aircraft. When launched from a distance of less than 300 meters, there was a real danger of running into its own fragments.
In the first half of 1944, the enemy attempted to introduce 88-mm RPzB.54 / 1 "Panzerschreck" grenade launchers into the armament of anti-tank attack aircraft. A block of four launchers with a total weight of about 40 kg was located under the wing of the aircraft. During the tests, it turned out that for an aimed launch when approaching a target, the attack aircraft had to fly at a speed of about 490 km / h, otherwise the rocket-propelled grenade would go astray. But since the sighting range did not exceed 200 m, the aviation version of the anti-tank grenade launcher was rejected.
In 1944, Czech specialists from the Československá Zbrojovka Brno company managed to create a fairly effective anti-tank aircraft missile R-HL "Panzerblitz 1". Its design was based on the Soviet RS-82, and an 88-mm RPzB Gr. 4322 cumulative warhead weighing 2.1 kg from the Panzerschreck RPG was used as a warhead. Armor penetration at a meeting angle of 60 ° was 160 mm.
The rocket, developed by the Czechs, had characteristics close to the Soviet prototype, but the firing accuracy due to the rotation imparted by the stabilizers installed at an angle to the projectile body was significantly higher than that of the RS-82. The speed of the rocket is up to 374 m / s. Weight - 7, 24 kg.
On the Fw-190F-8 / Pb1 attack aircraft, equipped with beam-type guides, 12-16 missiles were suspended. During the tests, it was found that with a salvo launch from a distance of 300 meters, an average of 1 missile out of 6 hits the target. Until February 1945, 115 Fw 190F-8 / Pb1 aircraft were built, their combat use began in October 1944.
In the fall of 1944, a very successful 55-mm NAR R4 / M "Orkan" entered service with the Luftwaffe. The stabilization of the rocket after launch was carried out by folding feather stabilizers. NAR R4 / M was intended to combat long-range Allied bombers.
Thanks to good accuracy and a speed of 525 m / s, the effective firing range reached 1200 m. At a distance of 1 km, a volley of 24 missiles fit into a circle with a diameter of 30 m. The missiles were suspended on beam-type guides.
In addition to the interceptors, the NAR R4 / M was used on the assault variants of the Fw-190. However, the relatively light fragmentation warhead of the 55-mm missile could not pose a threat to the T-34. In this regard, from December 1944, the assault units equipped with the Fw-190F-8 began to receive NAR R4 / M-HL "Panzerblitz 2" weighing 5, 37 kg. The anti-tank version of the missile had a cumulative 88-mm warhead RPzB Gr. 4322. Due to an increase of 1 kg in comparison with the R4 / M mass, the R4 / M-HL rocket developed a speed of 370 m / s. The aiming range was reduced to 1000 m.
Missiles of this type have demonstrated high combat effectiveness. With a salvo launch from a distance of 300 m, out of twelve NAR 1-2 were placed in a circle with a diameter of 7 m. In 1945, another version of this rocket, known as "Panzerblitz 3", appeared, with a warhead of a smaller caliber and increased flight speed. But, despite some success in the creation of anti-tank unguided missiles, they appeared too late. In the conditions of the overwhelming superiority of Soviet aviation, the few attack aircraft equipped with anti-tank unguided missiles could not have a noticeable effect on the course of hostilities.
