A recoilless rifle (rifled), recoilless launcher (smoothbore), or simply recoilless gun, sometimes abbreviated to "RR" or "RCL" is a type of lightweight artillery system or man-portable launcher that is designed to eject some form of countermass such as propellant gas from the rear of the weapon at the moment of firing, creating forward thrust that counteracts most of the weapon's recoil. This allows for the elimination of much of the heavy and bulky recoil-counteracting equipment of a conventional cannon as well as a thinner-walled barrel, and thus the launch of a relatively large projectile from a platform that would not be capable of handling the weight or recoil of a conventional gun of the same size. Technically, only devices that use spin-stabilized projectiles fired from a rifled barrel are recoilless rifles, while smoothbore variants are recoilless guns. This distinction is often lost, and both are often called recoilless rifles.
The ISU-152 is a Soviet self-propelled gun developed and used during World War II. It was unofficially nicknamed Zveroboy in response to several large German tanks and guns coming into service, including Tigers and Panthers. Since the ISU-152's gun was mounted in a casemate, aiming it was awkward, and had to be done by repositioning the entire vehicle using the tracks. Therefore, it was used as mobile artillery to support more mobile infantry and armor attacks. It continued service into the 1970s and was used in several campaigns and countries.
An anti-tank gun is a form of artillery designed to destroy tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, normally from a static defensive position. The development of specialized anti-tank munitions and anti-tank guns was prompted by the appearance of tanks during World War I. To destroy hostile tanks, artillerymen often used field guns depressed to fire directly at their targets, but this practice expended too much valuable ammunition and was of increasingly limited effectiveness as tank armor became thicker. The first dedicated anti-tank artillery began appearing in the 1920s, and by World War II was a common appearance in many European armies. To penetrate armor, they fired specialized ammunition from longer barrels to achieve a higher muzzle velocity than field guns. Most anti-tank guns were developed in the 1930s as improvements in tanks were noted, and nearly every major arms manufacturer produced one type or another.
A tank gun is the main armament of a tank. Modern tank guns are high-velocity, large-caliber artilleries capable of firing kinetic energy penetrators, high-explosive anti-tank, and cannon-launched guided projectiles. Anti-aircraft guns can also be mounted to tanks.
The 90 mm gun M1/M2/M3 was an American heavy anti-aircraft and anti-tank gun, playing a role similar to the German 8.8cm Flak 18. It had a 3.5 in (90 mm) diameter bore, and a 50 caliber barrel, giving it a length of 15 ft (4.6 m). It was capable of firing a 3.5 in × 23.6 in shell 62,474 ft (19,042 m) horizontally, or a maximum altitude of 43,500 ft (13,300 m).
The 75 mm gun, models M2 to M6, was the standard American medium caliber gun fitted to mobile platforms during World War II. They were primarily mounted on tanks, such as the M3 Lee and M4 Sherman, but one variant was also used as an air-to-ground gun on the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber aircraft. There were five main variants used during the war: M2, M3, M4, M5 and M6.
2A45 and 2A45M are the respective GRAU designations of the Sprut-A and Sprut-B Soviet smoothbore 125 mm anti-tank guns.
The Rheinmetall Rh-120 is a 120 mm smoothbore tank gun designed and produced in former West Germany by the Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH company. It was developed in response to Soviet advances in armour technology and development of new armoured threats. Production began in 1974, with the first version of the gun, known as the L/44 as it was 44 calibres long, used on the German Leopard 2 tank and soon produced under license for the American M1A1 Abrams and other tanks. The 120-millimetre (4.7 in) L/44 gun has a length of 5.28 metres (17.3 ft), and the gun system weighs approximately 3,317 kilograms (7,313 lb).
MT-12 or 2A29 is a Soviet smoothbore 100 mm anti-tank gun, which served as the primary towed anti-tank artillery in the Soviet army from the early 1970s to the late 1980s. It is in significant use in the Russo-Ukrainian War (2014–present).
The M829 is an American armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) kinetic energy penetrator tank round. Modeling was done at the Ballistic Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, which was incorporated into the Army Research Laboratory in 1992. The round is specifically designed for the 120 mm M256 main gun on the Abrams M1A1 and M1A2 main battle tanks. The penetrator is carried by a sabot during its acceleration in the gun barrel.
The 122-mm howitzer D-30 is a Soviet howitzer that first entered service in 1960. It is a robust piece that focuses on the essential features of a towed field gun suitable for all conditions. The D-30 has a maximum range of 15.4 km (9.6 mi) or 21.9 km (13.6 mi) using rocket-assisted projectile ammunition.
The 76 mm gun M1 was an American World War II–era tank gun developed by the U.S United States Ordnance Department in 1942 to supplement the 75 mm gun on the basic Medium tank M4. It was also used to arm the M18 Hellcat tank destroyer.
The D-10 is a Soviet 100 mm tank gun developed in late World War II. It originally equipped the SU-100 tank destroyers and was later selected for the T-55 tank, equipping these as late as 1979. On the T-55 the D-10 continues to be in active service in many countries.
The 2S4 Tyulpan is a Soviet 240 mm self-propelled heavy mortar. "2S4" is its GRAU designation. The Tyulpan is the largest mortar system in use today. It saw use in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Chechnya, and Ukraine.
The Ordnance QF 32 pounder or (32-pdr) was a British 94 mm gun, initially developed as a replacement for the Ordnance QF 17-pdr anti-tank gun.
The Royal Ordnance L11A5, officially designated Gun, 120 mm, Tank L11, is a 120 mm L/55 rifled tank gun design. It was the second 120 mm calibre tank gun in service with British Army. It was the first of NATO's 120 mm main battle tank guns which became the standard calibre for Western tanks in the later period of the Cold War. A total of 3,012 of the L11 guns were produced by 2005. The list price was US$227,000 in 1990.
The 2A46 is a 125 mm/L48 smoothbore cannon of Soviet origin used in several main battle tanks. It was designed by OKB-9 in Yekaterinburg.
The 2A28 Grom also known as KBP 2A28 Grom, is the main armament of the Soviet-designed BMP-1 and BMD-1 infantry fighting vehicles. It is a 73 mm low pressure smoothbore semi-automatic gun with a wedge breech block. Development of the 2A28 Grom was directly linked to that of the SPG-9 recoilless gun; both fired projectiles similar to rocket-propelled grenades.
The Object 120 SU-152 "Taran" was a fully enclosed Soviet tank destroyer built in 1965, which never progressed past the experimental stage.
The IS-2 is a Soviet heavy tank, the second of the IS tank series named after the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. It was developed and saw combat during World War II and saw service in other Soviet allied countries after the war.
