During the Second World War, the rise of anti-tank rocket launchers, because of its portability, high destructiveness and other reasons soon became the main equipment of the army, Belgium's Mecar SA company in the 50s had developed an anti-tank rocket launcher called RL-83, RL-83 is not very famous, but it is a reliable equipment that participates in many actual battles.
The RL-83 is not a newly developed product, it is essentially an improvement and upgrade of the American M20A1 rocket launcher. M20A1 is an improved version of the World War II M1 rocket launcher, which began production in 1952, with a launch barrel inner diameter of 88.9 mm, an ammunition caliber of 88 mm, its armor-breaking shell combat distance of 150 meters, and a warhead armor-piercing capacity of up to 280 mm, which was a very good infantry anti-tank weapon at that time.
The RL-83 consists of a launcher, pistol grip, sight, shield and tripod, with a caliber of 83 mm, and designers have also developed a version that increases the caliber to 100 mm, known as the RL-100, which differs in weight, size, and power.
RL-83 weighs 8.4 kg, 1.7 meters long, the launch tube can be folded for easy transportation, it is not the use of electric shock, but through the mechanical structure to hit the impact cap of the tail of the ammunition to complete the ignition launch, the bazooka generally uses 2 people to fight in groups, one person shoulder launcher, the other person loads ammunition.
The shooter can directly shoulder the transmitter operation, the lower side of the launcher has a protruding shoulder support, the shooter can aim through the mechanical sight, the ammunition effective range of 400 meters, the mechanical sight to 100 meters as a gear, set 100, 200, 300 and 400 meters 4 aiming scales, can also be configured with more accurate optical sights. If the shooter is in a prone position, the single-legged tripod can be adjusted for height assist support.
In order to protect the shooter from the ammunition tail flame, a tapered metal shield was specially added, which was made of steel, with an observation slit on the cover and filled with plexiglass, and in some photos we can see that the transmitter uses a mask of other shapes, and some simply cancel the mask. The design of this protective shield is mostly seen in the early bazooka, mainly because the design of the launcher and the ammunition propellant needed to be improved at that time, like the later famous RPG-7 launch port is closer to the shooter's face, but does not need a protective mask.
The RL-83 can use a variety of ammunition, anti-tank uses 1.6 kg heavy high-explosive anti-tank shell, ammunition initial speed of 100 m / s, effective range of 400 m, it can penetrate 300 mm thick homogeneous steel armor, or 1 m thick concrete; The anti-personnel grenade may be as powerful as a mortar of the same class, and its maximum range can reach 900 meters, but the accuracy of long-range strikes is not very good.
In addition to the above two ammunition, there are smoke bombs, incendiary bombs and flare bombs, and later developed an extended range version of the anti-tank bomb, the initial speed is increased to 120 m / s, the booster rocket can increase the speed to 300 m / s, the ammunition effective range of 400 meters, anti-tank capabilities are greatly enhanced.
The RL-100 weighs 12.9 kg and is 1.885 meters long, using the same type of ammunition as the RL-83, although the initial velocity, armor thickness, and effective range of the anti-tank ammunition have increased.
RL-83 was sold to Mexico, Israel, Rwanda and other countries, served in the Belgian army until the 80s, during its service in various countries has participated in the Congo Crisis, Radfan Uprising, Six-Day War and other wars, Mexico used it to fight drug dealers armored vehicles, in the famous military theme movie "Wild Goose Daredevil" also appeared.