Its design permits accurate delivery of a rocket-propelled 80mm high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead, with negligible recoil. The PF-89 entered mass production in 1993, and generally replaced the Type 69 RPG in the PLA throughout the 1990s.[1] Since 2010, the system is being used along with the more advanced Type 08 recoilless gun.[2]
Description
The PF-89 is a lightweight, self-contained, anti-armor weapon comparable to the Swedish AT4 (U.S. Designation M136). However, unlike the AT4, the PF-89 is a rocket-propelled weapon instead of a recoilless gun, which makes the PF-89 more similar to the M72 LAW and the RPG-26. The weapon consists of a free-flight, fin-stabilized, rocket-propelled cartridge packed in a one-piece, one-off, fiberglass-wrapped tube.[3]
It is man-portable and is fired from the right shoulder only. The launcher is watertight for ease of transportation and storage. The PF-89 has a simple 2.5x, 12° field of view optical sight for aiming, with no night combat ability.[4]
The user must be able to see and identify the target and estimate the range to it. The round of ammunition is self-contained in a disposable launch tube. The system weighs only eight pounds and can be used effectively with minimal training.[1]
The problem of back blast became prominent after the PF-89's adoption. Collateral damage is especially concerning for the PLA, which uses motorized infantry fighting tactics. To address this, China developed the Type 08 multipurpose recoilless gun with a countermass balance mechanism to replace the PF-89, especially the multipurpose PF89A variant.[2]
Variants
The PF-89 has six variants with each variant corresponding to a specific type of ammunition. The earliest variant, simply called the PF-89, uses high-explosive double shaped charges (with 8701 explosives) to achieve 628mm of rolled homogeneous armour (RHA) penetration at 90° angle in static tests. In kinetic tests, the RHA penetration is more than 400mm at 0° angle or 180mm at 68° angle.[4][5]
The second variant, the PF-89A, employs specialized multipurpose incendiary rounds. These multipurpose rounds can penetrate 300mm of reinforced concrete, and release steel fragments and zirconium-based incendiary composition to kill targets and light up wood and fabric upon impact.[1][4]
The third variant, known as the PF-89B or PF-89-1, uses tandem-charge HEAT warheads to improve penetration against reactive armour.[3][5]
The WPF-89-1 is the thermobaric version of the PF-89. The WPF-89-1 is reusable, but did not see much use due to its complex reload process. As a result, China developed the improved single-use WPF-89-2 in 2003.[6]
A training replica version is also available for operation practice.[3]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
