On March 11, Ukrainian soldiers posted multiple videos of the operation on social media showing that they had received a number of German-supported Tekken 3 individual rocket launchers. This bazooka is different from the previous U.S.-supported M141, Swiss-supported AT4, and Danish-supported M72EC, which is a super-caliber rocket launcher similar to the RPG-7, with a warhead diameter much larger than the previous ones, and larger than the PG-7V rockets commonly used in RPG-7, so the armor-breaking power of the Tekken 3 is much greater than them. For the T-72B, T-72B3 tank, which is mainly equipped by the Russian army, the Tekken 3 is not a small challenge.
Pictured: Soldiers of the Ukrainian Homeland Defense Battalion demonstrate an Iron Fist 3T rocket launcher
Pictured: Ukrainian soldier using the Iron Fist 3IT
Pictured: Ukrainian soldier using the Tekken 3 basic type, the warhead explodes high pole contraction state
According to the difference of the warhead, the Tekken 3 can be divided into four sub-types, namely the anti-tank basic iron fist 3, the tandem warhead anti-tank iron fist 3T, the tandem warhead enhanced iron fist 3IT and the anti-bunker type iron fist 3Bkf. Among them, the basic iron fist 3 is equipped with a 110mm caliber armor-breaking bullet, using a single-stage hollow charge structure, and there is a retractable probe rod at the front of the warhead, which is used to control the explosion height, so that the high-temperature metal jet converges after detonation, and the armor piercing effect is better. This telescopic probe is usually retracted and pulled out by the shooter before use. When dealing with bunker fortifications and lightly armored targets, it can also be fired without pulling out. The armor-breaking power of the Basic Iron Fist 3 is not weak, and it can penetrate 700 mm thick vertical homogeneous steel armor, even if it has a strong deterrent effect on the T-72B with a contact 1 explosion.
Pictured: Iron Fist family, the top is the basic type of Iron Fist 3 fried high pole pull out state
The Tekken 3T and Tekken 3IT both use tandem armor-breaking warheads to deal with explosive reactive armor, and the main difference in appearance between them is that the front of the Tekken 3T warhead is two sections, and the Tekken 3IT is three sections. This protruding bar is no longer a blast high probe rod, but a first-level warhead used to detonate explosive reactive armor, and the second-level main warhead is the main armor-breaking output. In terms of armor-breaking power, the second-level main warhead power of the Tekken 3T is about 700 mm compared to that of the Tekken 3T, and the second-level warhead power of the Tekken 3IT is increased to 900 mm. This is no small threat to most tanks at present, and the T-72B and T-72B3 of the Main Force of the Russian Army are difficult to resist.
Pictured: Iron Fist 3 with a normal optical sight
Pictured: Iron Fist 3IT600 with laser fire control sight
The structure and shape of the Tekken 3 is similar to the classic RPG-7 rocket launcher of the former Soviet Union, but it is more powerful and the initial speed is slightly higher, at about 150 m/ s, and the initial speed of the PG-7 series rockets is about 115 m / s. Therefore, the accuracy and effective range of the Tekken 3 are better than that of the RPG-7, and the maximum effective range of the stationary target is 400 meters. In order to further improve the accuracy and range, the German Tekken 3 is equipped with a special Dynarange laser fire control sight, built-in laser rangefinder and ballistic computer, can calculate the aiming point according to the ranging results and the ballistic data of the 4 kinds of rockets pre-stored, and the shooter can press the target with the aiming point to launch, which is similar to the fire control sight of our army's PF98/A 120mm rocket launcher. The effective range of the Iron Fist 3 equipped with laser fire control sights has been increased to 600 meters, but the Ukrainian army is currently getting a normal optical sight version, and the fire control sight has not yet appeared.
At present, on the Ukrainian battlefield, due to the import of a large number of individual anti-tank weapons, the living environment of Russian tanks has become very harsh. The main reason is that this kind of thing is invincible, and the observation equipment of the Russian tanks themselves is not advanced, and it is not easy to find ambushers using these weapons in advance. To be truly effective against these weapons, it is necessary to improve the tank's situational awareness and use active protection systems. The armor-breaking munitions fired by these bazookas are not fast, and the current active protection system has a high success rate in intercepting them. The new generation of thermal imaging systems also exceeds the range of these bazookas for the detection of hidden personnel. Therefore, the tide is rising, and in the face of the increasing proliferation of individual anti-tank weapons, the tank itself must also be improved in terms of protection and situational awareness configuration.