Developed by the Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune, new 84mm Lightweight Lancher (LWL) is a new recoilless manportable, shoulder-fired weapon for the infantry anti-armour profile. According to DRDO, the barrel of the weapon built using indigenously developed hybrid composites.
Nice, but DRDO should not be focussing on Small arms development.
This is what the Ordinance Factories should be doing.. They should do the research and introduce new Guns and ammos etc..
DRDO does everything from food-missiles. It needs to focus on few things and get them going ontime.
I doubt if this has much use against a modern ERA equipped composite armored MBT. Its certainly no substitute for top down attacking missiles like the Milan AT.
If it works out maybe it'll replace the Carl Gustavs in service(looks similar too).
Good development.Reduction of the weight from 14kg to 7.5 kg is an excellent development. It's time to replace the old ones with this new one.
The Indian army needs to buy and spend money in such indigenous weapons, instead of runnning after phoren maal such as Javelin.
If they have certain specific requirements, they need to describe them to DRDO and let them develop these. If we are capable of designing missiles and rockets and sending probes to moon then we are most definitely capable of designing small state-of-the-art weapon systems.
Just to let you know, Launcher is misspelled. in the caption of the 2nd image.
is it only launcher developed by DRDO or the 84mm shells as well?
is it only launcher developed by DRDO or the 84mm shells as well?
Hi Shiv,
Please could you post more pictures of the LWL,the ones in the post are not very clear.also something about its range & the warhead
Great! And this happens the same time we order Milans, Konkurs and evaluate Javelins!!!
this is just a recoiless anti-tank gun, just refer to Carl Gustov, been around for 30 years already
well done HAL, never an ancient technology too old to resurrect, what's next the chariot.
Hope its not just a re-engineered or product-improved Carl Gustaf.
These are useful for counter-insurgency ops. e.g. to blow up a militant hideout. Using it to attack a modern MBT may not work well. I would prefer something like Javelin or Kornet for that.
Why don't we design a modern artillery system? We badly need new 155mm howitzers
how does this compare with the Hj-9 or the bhaktar shikan of pakistan ????????
Sorry folks , it seems a bit of a fraud becasue:-
a) Carl Gustav had already done the same a few years ago.
b) The sighting system has not changed. Unlike US & European versions , Night/Thermal Sights are not to be seen.
c) No news about any improved ammo.I had heard that Carl Gustav had moved on to Rocket assisted ammo.
d) has the Army agreed to accept this ??
Please , please say I am wrong. I shall be happy for my Jawans.
So will this in compt with the Javellion?
Its basically a CG, lightened by use of modern materials.Still a good developement.Bread and Butter stuff, while not glamorous, is critical to infantry.
These weapon still have a role.Its cheap, so a lot more guys can have it.Its multi-purpose, quick, tough and a durable weapon.Tandem warheads are available for ERA i think.
Guided weapons are expensive and not that 'spread around'.
Anything that saves precious Foreign Exchange. Was CG made in India that you jokers are jumping? Forex is reserved for premium stuff so trivia has to be locally developed and procured.
has the ARDE been able do anything about developing something meaningful ? they rob ideas of the net and spend crores to reinvent the wheel ! has there been cost audit in the project ?
Congrats, but DRDO should make small weapons more smart and intelligent type, because sometimes even creates a big difference what big weapons cant make. What a needle can do, the same thing sword cannot do it.
So this means a new barrel based on Carl Gustav design. Something better then nothing, thats the way to look at it.
It looks like the clone of Carl Gustav….
I think a lot of of Anony's here missed the point.
As one person pointed out this can be used in COIN ops. Also, it can be used by BSF and manning posts on LOC and other border areas. If I had one of these I would knock down a few Pakis everything they open fire using machine guns to push terrorsits in.
Also, as you would know an ERA can be defeated by multiple hits at the same place. Also, APC don't have ERA's it can be used on this too.
How do so many people here expect us to make something like the Milan and Javelin unless we make something like this?
This is a step in the right direction and the army should sieze this oppurtunity to advance the ATGM projects.
Also we have the NAG missile for ATGM role.
This is the Carl Gustaf 84 mm recoilless rifle, which DRDO has made light by using composite materials instead of metal as used in the original imported version.
The basic design is exactly the same. Maybe the imagefinder / sight is a local made one, but overall almost no design change.
I wonders what is the longevity of the composite material used here. Is it for the barrel? From the weight reduction achieved, it would seem that the barrel has been replaced with composite materials.
Only extensive battle testing will prove how effective this material replacement and indian sight are.
Anyhow, good effort by DRDO. But now is the time for DRDO to have an Indian National Armaments across the board with newly designed armaments specifically for the indian armed forces. Just like the INSAS, the indian armed forces should have all basic weapons, designed within the country by DRDO, and these need to be identifiable as Indian designed weapons all over the world.
Composite barrel developed for the 84 mm RCL rifle.
http://www.drdo.com/pub/nl/2008/july08.pdf
This is from DRDO's July 2008 newsletter that shiv is reporting now.
I this a disposable weapon where the sights are saved and reused, with the barrel and the missile within are single use.
The barrel is made of composites and is disposable.
The barrel might be disposed of after a certain number of firings and the sights reused with newer cheaply produced and lightweight barrels.
If this is made of composites, the pakistanis in Siachen had better watch out. Being non metal, this will not shrink in the cold, and will still fire even if it is -50 degrees celcius. And for the soldier, a lighter weight is a boon.
Good development by DRDO.
To Introspector,
Well like I said this is a sort of alternative to the Carl Gustav which is regularly used in COIN operations in J&K and the NE.
ERA can be defeated by multiple hits at the same place, but hitting a mobile tank at the same place twice is unlikely. Besides, whether it would penetrate several hundred mm of sloped RHA is questionable.
Also, modern APCs are being equipped with ERA and older ones are being retrofitted with ERA panels, but I guess you're point stands. Against lighter vehicles this weapon does have a lot of potential.
With respect to the NAG, I must point out that the NAG is not a man-portable missile so it can't be compared to the Javelin or Milan. Its being designed around the NAMICA and will probably have an air-launched version for attack helicopters.
Vivek,
When the reactive armor explodes a large chunk of the bricks or plates explode which leaves a large area exposed. I am not saying that LWL is our one stop solution in defeating a modern armor I am just saying that its a step in the right direction. Also, it might expose a large part of the tank/APC and leave it vulnerable to further attacks by more capable rounds.
Due to that it will play the same role as what an RPG might play. Although, from the picture the rocket round looks more promising than the RPG round.
Also, Vivek the man portable version of NAG is also under development along with the air launched verion, Helina:
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/03/25/stories/2005032501700400.htm
Vijay,
You're right about the ERA, but I must point out modern ERA is designed to minimize the lateral effect of the explosion and minimize the affected area. Also, even if a second RL round could somehow hit the vulnerable section of a tank, it still has several hundred mm of RHA to penetrate. Which is why you need ATGMs with a tandem warhead(first stage triggers the ERA, second stage penetrates the armor).
The LWL has extremely limited efficacy.
With regard to the man-portable NAG, well its still years away from induction. Till then the MILAN will remain the infantry's primary anti-tank weapon.