Russian killers have made achievements.

Russian killers have made achievements.

In this Russian-Ukrainian military conflict, some weapons and equipment used by Russia have played an important role in specific combat forms. These equipments may meet the tactical needs of China army to a certain extent, and may be more suitable for the battlefield style and combat form that our army will face in the future.

There are two kinds of military equipment, one is 2S4 tulip 240mm heavy self-propelled mortar equipped by Russian army, and the other is TOS- 1A heavy fire-breathing system equipped by Russian army.

2S7M 203mm heavy artillery

Generally, the former belongs to the powerful artillery brigade directly under the military region, such as the 45th brigade of the powerful artillery directly under the western military region, which has two powerful artillery battalions and one powerful mortar battalion. The former is equipped with 8 2S7M 203mm heavy guns, while the latter is equipped with 8 2S4240 heavy mortars. However, it also belongs to the group army artillery brigade, such as the 305th Brigade of the Red Flag Gongbinnen Artillery of the 5th Army of the Eastern Military Region, which has its own mortar battalion.

2S4 240mm heavy mortar

As for the latter, it generally belongs to chemical regiments directly under the Army, such as Independent Chemical Regiment 6 of the 6th Army of the Western Military Region, which has a fire-breathing battalion equipped with TOS- 1A heavy-duty fire-breathing system, and two independent engineers/chemical regiments of the 49th Army and the 58th Army of the Southern Military Region are also incorporated into a fire-breathing battalion, both equipped with TOS- 1A heavy-duty fire-breathing system.

So what are the characteristics and advantages of 2S4 heavy mortar and TOS- 1A flamethrower system in performance, and what kind of tactical role did they play in the Ukrainian crisis?

TOS- 1A heavy-duty flamethrower system

2S4 Tulip Heavy Mortar

Let's start with the 2S4 heavy mortar. Judging from the urban attack of the Soviet Red Army in World War II, the Soviet Union believes that the basic characteristics of urban attack are:

First, how high fortifications should be built. When organizing urban defense, the enemy can rely on high-rise buildings in the city to strengthen the city in the field and build a large number of fire launching points to become high-rise fortifications. With the quality of stone buildings in western Europe, these towering fortifications are often extremely strong, and even 152 mm howitzers are difficult to cause fundamental damage.

The second is the shooting dead angle of multi-barrel guns. If the enemy forces park heavy equipment under buildings or rely on buildings to park in back streets and alleys, barrel guns, rocket launchers and even aerial bombs can hardly hit such targets at this time, so only mortars close to the vertical impact angle can hit such targets.

Based on this assumption, the Soviet army attached great importance to the use of mortars during and after World War II, and developed the M43 240mm heavy mortar for urban attack. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union first developed a towed M240 240mm heavy mortar, which was equipped in the Army Heavy Artillery Brigade. 1967, perm design bureau began to develop 2S4 heavy mortar based on GMZ chassis, and formally equipped the Soviet army in 197 1.

In terms of technical performance, the fire efficiency of 2S4 heavy mortar is mainly discussed. 2S4 heavy mortar is equipped with 2б 8 type 240mm mortar, with a barrel length of 6m and a total weight of 2,000kg. The breech loading design is adopted. The high and low shooting boundaries are 45 degrees to 80 degrees, and the left and right shooting boundaries are 8 degrees. The average firing rate is 1 shot/minute. It is ignited by electric ignition.

In terms of matching bomb types, 2S4 is equipped with the following bomb types:

One is Ф 86-4 high-explosive fragment bomb, with total weight 130 kg and warhead charge of 2 1 kg, which is equivalent to three explosive grenades matched with Russian д 20 152 mm howitzer, with the maximum range of about 9650 meters;

Second, the rocket-assisted high-altitude bursting disc weighs 228kg, and the charge of the warhead is equivalent to that of Ф 86-4 high-altitude bursting disc, mainly because the range is increased, and the maximum range is over 20,000m m. At the same time, this rocket-aided design also enables 2S4 to launch tactical nuclear warheads or chemical warheads.

Third, laser-guided artillery shells. 1983, the Soviet Union equipped 1к 1 13 laser-guided artillery shells for 2S4. The system includes laser pointer, synchronizer and other equipment. Under the condition of semi-active laser irradiation, the ground accuracy of the final stage of 2S4 mortar can be ensured to be less than 20m, which further improves the killing efficiency of this mortar.

The performance characteristics and fire efficiency of 2S4 heavy mortars played an important role in the Ukrainian crisis, especially in urban attacks.

For example, in the siege of Wooper, Mali in March-April, 2022, 2S4 heavy mortars of 58 sets of Guards Artillery 29 1 Brigade in the Southern Military Region undertook the task of attacking ilych Iron and Steel Plant and Azov Hestar Iron and Steel Plant, and their power made the Ukrainian army have a lingering fear;

For example, in the Battle of PoPasner Asia-North Donetsk in May-July, 2022, the 2S4 heavy mortars of the powerful artillery brigade of the Western Military Region were also quite brilliant. The Russian army deployed these 2S4s in Lubeznoye, which was specially used to attack the high-rise fortifications of the Ukrainian army in Lisichansk, and the military transportation of the Ukrainian army from Lisichansk to North Donetsk, causing great casualties to the Ukrainian army.

For example, the Battle of Amsk, which has come to an end, is unclear which Russian army 2S4 demolished the buildings in Amsk. Obviously, the heavy mortars of 2S4 played a very important role in the reason why Wagner Cluster soared in Amsk, which changed the slow progress of the Second Army of Lugansk in the battle of Pasner last year.

TOS- 1A "solarization" heavy-duty fire-breathing system

As for the TOS- 1A heavy flamethrower system, not to mention, it can be called the online celebrity equipment of the Russian army in this Ukrainian crisis.

This heavy-duty fire-breathing system is the successor model of various fire-breathing tanks of the Soviet Red Army. Compared with OT-54 and OT-62 fire-breathing tanks improved by the Soviet army after World War II by using T-55, T-62 and other tank chassis, TOS- 1 fire-breathing tanks canceled the original literal combination of "flamethrower+tank" and installed multiple arson rockets or oil-gas rockets on the tank chassis, which has a longer range and can be used for arson.

For the TOS- 1 improved TOS- 1A "Sun Roast" of the heavy-duty flamethrower system, the flamethrower system can be equipped with 24 rockets. At present, it is equipped with MO 1.0 1 and Mo1.01.04m. The former is 3.33m long. The weight is about 2 17kg. After a single rocket is detonated, it can form a high-temperature fireball above 2500 degrees Celsius, forming a detonation wave with a detonation velocity of 2500 m/s and an overpressure of 2-3 MPa. When a bicycle volleys, the killing area can reach 40,000m2, which is probably a row of defensive ground.

The Red Army of the Soviet Union believes that fire-breathing tanks have good killing effect when they are used to attack unprotected or low-intensity enemies who use field fortifications or low-intensity houses to organize defense. TOS- 1A heavy-duty fire-breathing system has obvious advantages compared with 100 meters short-range fire-breathing tank. Its maximum range can reach more than 6000 meters, and it can shoot outside the range of enemy infantry guns or anti-tank guns assigned to the first-level detachment, protecting its own safety while attacking enemy defense targets.

On the battlefield in Ukraine, the technical and tactical performance of TOS- 1A heavy fire-breathing system used by Russian troops not only played an important role in the battlefield attack, but even formed standard tactics in the use of TOS- 1A troops. In the task of giving this kind of equipment, the Russian army often uses heavy equipment and technical equipment for the first-line defense forces of the Ukrainian army, mostly light infantry with poor fortifications. The high temperature and high pressure caused by it is like hell, and almost no one can escape the scorching of the "Japanese sun", such as the hit Ukrainian trenches or the civil buildings with insufficient protection strength. For example, Russian troops inspected the houses swept by TOS- 1A in Malinka, Piski and Zeiler, and only found some charred bodies.

Tactically, the Russian army has now formed a standard tactic using TOS-1A. Generally, a "smoke curtain wall" is built with smoke bombs in the shooting direction of TOS- 1A to block the visibility of the Ukrainian army. TOS- 1A relies on smoke bombs and uses thermobaric bombs to command firepower to ensure its own safety and achieve maximum attack suddenness. In a word, TOS- 1A heavy-duty fire-breathing system has played a great role in Ukrainian crisis and Russian field attack and defense, especially in simple houses and field fortifications.

Does China need such weapons?

The research and development purpose, technical performance and tactical use of 2S4 heavy mortar and TOS- 1A heavy fire-breathing system are defined. We should be able to find that our army is also likely to encounter the street battle battlefield encountered by the Soviet Red Army/Russian Army, or a large number of low-quality soldiers plus field fortifications under the conditions of field attack and defense.

In addition, we may encounter some more complicated scenes, such as heavy fire support points deployed in the forefront or shallow depth, which have been painstakingly managed for decades; For example, heavy high-rise buildings reinforced with reinforced concrete or even steel plates in wartime; For example, a large area of simple buildings with insufficient strength and low height but enough to hide a large number of troops.

These scenes, you use individual rocket launchers and anti-tank guns at all levels, are not easy to use. If you go directly to tank guns and howitzers, you will also encounter the problem that the impact angle is too small or the lethality is insufficient. If you go directly to the infantry, the casualties will be unimaginable.

In this case, maybe 2S4, a heavy mortar that can deal with high-rise buildings and fortifications, falls from the sky, or TOS- 1A, a flamethrower, will make a volley at large low-rise houses and inferior field fortifications dug by mobilized soldiers, and the effect will be much better. This is why Ivan took a fancy to these two weapons in the Ukrainian crisis and so many weapons used by the Russian army.