Urban Warfare 2.0 How Asymmetric Threats Dominate Conflicts 2 Dynamit Nobel Defence
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Dynamit Nobel Defence Urban Warfare 2.0 How asymmetric threats dominate conflicts 2 Dynamit Nobel Defence Company profile Dynamit Nobel Defence - 30 year partners of international armed forces Dynamit Nobel Defence is a young Dynamit Nobel Defence can look back company with a long tradition steeped on several decades of experience and ex- in history. After Dynamit Nobel GmbH cellent achievements in the international Explosivstoff- und Systemtechnik had defence business. been sold and reorganised in 2004, all the activities of the defence business of The company and system house is also Dynamit Nobel Defence were relocated a supplier of the armed forces of many to Würgendorf near Siegen. overseas and European countries. About 90 per cent of all its customers are locat- The company continues over 50 years of ed abroad. With its specialisation in high tradition in the development and manu- end military technology, Dynamit Nobel facture of rocket, rocket motorss, war- Defence is well prepared for the future. heads, reactive armour, weapon stations and modern shoulder-launched weapons Using the established performance po- for the international infantry market. tential in high-technology design, the company has the technological capability At first, many people relate the name to supply international markets with the „Dynamit Nobel“ to the production of required high-end defence technology. explosives. The company „Alfred Nobel & Co“ was founded by Alfred Nobel in Today Dynamit Nobel Defence is the 1865. That company produced the dyna- global leader in shoulder-launched anti- mite he had invented and this made his tank weapons for infantry use together name known around the world. with other military products such as spe- cialised warheads for different applica- This was the first milestones in the long tions, weapon stations and reactive ar- history of Dynamit Nobel Defence, which mour. is rich in tradition. The company has been one of the most important suppliers of different types of arms and ammunition to the Bundeswehr, German armed forc- es. August 2010 Dynamit Nobel Defence 3 CONTENTS 1. Urban Warfare 2.0 Page 5 Tactical issues are becoming ever more complex for armed forces The problem of urban warfare Page 6 Complexity of the new threat Page 7 Different targets spectrums and warhead functions Page 9 2. New Infantry Weapons Page 13 Light-weight, compact and efficient Improvement to Panzerfaust 3-T anti-tank weapon Page 14 Effects behind cover - the Bunkerfaust Page 15 3. Cover-breaching infantry weapons Page 19 The Recoilless Grenade Weapon family RGW 90 - a family of hand weapons for universal use Page 20 Anti-structure munition for breakthrough Page 22 imprint Dynamit Nobel Defence GmbH Dr.-Hermann-Fleck-Allee 8 57299 Burbach Germany Tel. No.: +49 2736 46 2001 Fax: +49 2736 46 2003 e-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.dn-defence.com August 2010 4 Dynamit Nobel Defence August 2010 Dynamit Nobel Defence 5 Urban Warfare 2.0 Tactical issues are becoming ever more complex for armed forces In recent years, growing population set- get by firing only a few shots from his tlements and the emergence of megaci- rifle. The combat range in urban settings ties have changed the focus of conflicts is normally between 15 and 100 metres. and wars. Today, an ever larger number Irregular forces can advance and attack of conflicts and wars take place in built- simultaneously from several positions or up areas and terrain difficult to reconnoi- force the attacked party to respond in tre. This forces well-equipped and highly several directions thus making the attack trained armed forces to face scenarios more efficient. which have been dominating the military approach ever more strongly for a Under these conditions, the attacked number of years. party is usually unable to bring its full defence capability to bear. In these situ- The military operations in Iraq and in ations soldiers cannot leave their ar- Afghanistan have shown that fighting moured transport vehicles without be- in built-up areas is one of the preferred coming a target for the attacker. tactics of the enemy forces in order to en- gage superior armed forces with lightly In these situations units that come un- armed militia. der sudden attack or ambush are forced to retreat, reorganise and then advance In military terminology, Urban Opera- quickly against the attacker. This counter tions (UO) or Military Operations in Ur- response allows for the safe debussing of ban Terrain (MOUT) allow the enemy the soldiers from armoured vehicles followed use of the urban infrastructure, including by the time-consuming search for the at- the population, as attack and cover posi- tacker before they can be engaged suc- tions for military operations. Urban areas cessfully. are the preferred locations for ambushes, sudden attacks or lighting strikes by ir- Important factors regular forces. These factors are not new to military Under these conditions, assault rifles, forces engaged in international missions. light machine guns, armour piercing in- The ambush tactics practiced by irregular fantry weapons, self-made explosive de- forces with much success in many cases, vices, light mortar fire and land mines followed by retreat into urban areas or can inflict substantial loss even on armed the use of such areas for military opera- forces with modern equipment and pro- tions has been the reason for many coun- tection. This form of combat is aided and tries to change their philosophy of urban abetted by the complexity of urban ar- warfare scenarios. eas, the attacker’s detailed knowledge of the terrain and the lack of mobility of Today, military experts of NATO assume the attacked convoy or solders operating that more than 70% of all conflicts will within restricted confines of the towns be urban warfare scenarios in the future. and cities. This consideration will play a very im- portant role in providing equipment to Add to this the close combat range, armed forces in line with the threat faced. URBAN WARFARE: Technical supe- which - if conditions are favourable - al- Today, the military demands stand-off ca- riority is useful only to a limited lows the attacker to immobilise his tar- pability and efficient infantry weapon extent in urban fighting. August 2010 6 Dynamit Nobel Defence DIFFICULT TO SURVEY: Danger systems for urban warfare operations Even opening a locked or blocked door, lurks behind every corner. MOUT which can be used in these conditions. clearing away artificial obstacles such as scenarios require utmost concen- The new weapon systems optimised for barbed wire or barricades, requires time, tration and combat strength of infantry forces should not weigh more unnecessarily exposing soldiers and en- the soldier. than 10kg, have combat ranges from 15 tails substantial risks as obstacles may to maximum 500 metres and be able to be linked to booby traps. Blasting such defeat bunkers, breach cover and pierce obstacles to open or clear them away armour. with special explosive charges is often too dangerous for solders because of The problem of urban warfare the pressure generated by the explosion (blast/pressure wave) in open terrain, MOUT scenarios are characterised by and much more so in an enclosed room. the infrastructure in which fighting takes place. If these are densely populated are- Additionally hand, smoke or stun gre- as, villages or cities compare to European nades cannot always be used for control- standard, buildings are normally in very ling the enemy or forcing him to leave his good condition. This infrastructure is of covered position. decisive importance to attackers because it provides a base for operations and cov- An experienced user can throw a hand, er. Structures of high stability offer good smoke or stun grenade for only for 35 or cover against light and non-armour pierc- 40 metres. The danger that the grenade ing infantry weapons, such as assault ri- misses the target is extremely high when fles and light machine guns below calibre considering factors such as enemy fire, .50. It is also easy for irregular forces to poor vision and high stress. A thrown change position inside a building or to be weapon which fails to hit its target can able to attack simultaneously from sev- bounce back from a wall and be a dan- eral floors or from different buildings. ger to friendly soldiers due to explosion, fire or fragmentation within a 20 to 40 This makes defining the position and metre circumference. The soldier throw- fighting an attacker substantially more ing the grenade must expose himself for difficult for the party attacked. If on foot several seconds, which is another source or lightly protected it forces the attacked of danger for the use of hand grenades party to enter a building for cover and in combat. continue the fight from there. This is a difficult and dangerous situation which Today’s weapons bears a very high risk for the soldiers. The danger becomes even greater due to dif- Light machine guns, assault rifles with ficult tactical situations and the possibili- or without 40mm grenade launcher ty of booby traps hidden inside buildings. (40mm add-on unit) and the pistol are the August 2010 Dynamit Nobel Defence 7 weapons that are most commonly used Requirement profile changes in urban warfare today. Heavy weapon options used by infantry on a global The introduction of reactive and active scale include shoulder-launched anti- armours on combat vehicles of the then tank infantry weapon systems because Warsaw Pact countries started a devel- these have a higher stand-off capability opment in the technology of the capabil- and a higher efficiency at the target. An ity of the warheads, the effective range opponent entrenched in an urban envi- and the optical sights of Panzerfaust ronment can be efficiently engaged with were improved substantially.