HHB-14
| HRB-14 | |
|---|---|
| File:HRB-14 AT Launcher.png HRB-14 showing its various ammunition options. | |
| Type | Anti-Tank Missile Launcher |
| Place of origin |  Menghe |
| Service history | |
| In service | 2013-present |
| Used by | Menghe |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Hanbyŏl Missile Design Bureau |
| Designed | 2010-2014 |
| Unit cost | ₩600,000 ($26,784) per HR-14DCh |
| Produced | 2014-present |
| Variants | HR-14DCh (anti-tank) HR-14TH (multi-purpose) |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 2.4 kg (launcher) 9 kg (HR-14DCh reload) |
| Length | 103 cm (loaded launcher) |
| Width | 11 cm (4.3 in) |
| Cartridge | Reloadable |
| Caliber | 105 mm |
| Muzzle velocity | 220 m/s (720 ft/s) |
| Effective firing range | 20 to 600 m (22 to 660 yd) |
| Filling | HR-14DCh: Explosively Formed Penetrator HR-14TH: multipurpose HEAT warhead |
The HRB-14 (Menghean: 휴대용 라켙 발사기, Hyudae-yong Rakyet Balsagi, "Portable Rocket Launcher-14") is a short-range, reloadable, man-portable rocket launcher developed in Menghe for use by the Menghean Army. It is designed to replace the THRB as a universal, squad-level weapon capable of both anti-armor and anti-structure missions. Its anti-armor warhead uses an overfly top-attack mode to strike the enemy tank's thinner roof armor.
Development
The Menghean Army's interest in a squad-level top-attack munition began in 2009, when it considered purchasing production rights to the Oyashimese SRAW missile. While the SRAW performed favorably in test, the Army leadership turned it down, arguing that the large disposable launchers would too severely reduce the number of stored kills per squad.
Instead, the Army asked the Hanbyŏl Missile Design Bureau to work on a more compact version of the missile which could be fired from a reloadable launcher. To save time and expenses, the design team obtained a license to copy the Oyashimese missile's guidance system, streamlining and lightening it in the process to allow it to fit inside the missile's 105-millimeter fuselage. Tests with the weapon in 2013 confirmed that it retained its Oyashimese predecessor's effectiveness, including in the top-attack role, and in early 2014 the HRB-14 was approved for mass production.
Design
Technically, HRB-14 is the designation applied to the reloadable launcher, a 38-centimeter-long tube carrying the folding 2.5x magnification sight and a firing grip on the right side, both of them copied from the Oyashimese original. It is possible to remove the basic sight and mount a night-vision optic in its place. Enclosed missile tubes are then loaded into the rear of the launcher, after the operator removes the protective lid. Menghean designers argued that this system would cut costs and save weight and bulk compared to a complete disposable launcher for each individual projectile.
Like its Oyashimese parent design, the HRB-14's anti-tank projectiles (HR-14DCh) use an inertial guidance system, otherwise rare on ATGMs. Prior to launch, the operator aims the sight directly at the target and tracks its movement for two to three seconds, allowing the missile's guidance computer to automatically predict its speed and relative angle. Once the missile is launched, it uses inertial guidance to keep itself on the pre-set firing trajectory without any further input from the operator. This makes it a form of fire-and-forget munition, and one that is immune to jamming and multi-spectral smokescreens.
Rather than flying directly at the target, however, the anti-tank round ascends to a height of 1.5 meters above the operator's original line of sight. When its onboard detection system detects a tank underneath, it detonates a fixed, downward-facing explosively formed penetrator, punching a hole in the target's thinner roof armor. This top-attack approach bypasses the thicker armor on the hull glacis and turret face, and also bypasses the area of effectiveness of certain active protection systems.
In addition, the launcher can also accept multi-purpose projectiles, designated HR-14TH. These are fully unguided munitions which detonate on direct impact with the target, and are aimed like conventional anti-tank rockets. The warhead consists of a HEAT precursor charge accompanied by a larger high-explosive charge. It is designed for use against buildings, fortifications, and light armored vehicles such as APCs and last-generation IFVs.
Both ammunition types use two-stage solid-fuel rocket motors, with the initial booster stage firing through an 85-millimeter hole in the rear of the tube. This allows crews to safely fire the weapon from enclosed spaces, such as buildings, without concern for the damage caused by backblast.
Publicity brochures for the HRB-14 report that it has an effective range of 600 meters, but it is not clear how this term is defined, as the weapon can be used with lower levels of accuracy at ranges of up to one kilometer. Training procedures reportedly instruct operators to fire on moving targets only at ranges of less than 300 meters. Minimum range is usually listed as 20 meters, time required for the warhead to arm and the sustainer rocket to kick in.
Service
The HRB-14 entered service with the Menghean Army and Menghean Marine Infantry in early 2014. During the buildup to the Innominadan Crisis, it was rushed to front-line units, with the aim of improving the vanguard's anti-tank capabilities and testing the weapon in combat. Combat experience was limited compared to other anti-tank weapons, as the HRB-14 was still in early production, but units equipped with the new weapon reported that it had excellent anti-armor performance and reliable accuracy.
The Menghean Ministry of Defense has since then made the HRB-14 standard in Class 4 and Kimsŏng divisions, where it serves as the standard squad-level weapon in mechanized infantry units. A typical mechanized or motorized infantry squad will include one anti-tank grenadier, with a HRB-14 launcher and two missile tubes, and one anti-tank grenadier's assistant with two more reloads, usually with each soldier carrying one anti-tank and one multi-purpose round.