Sunday, December 20, 2009

Denel NTW-20 20mm Rifle


Here we have the Denel NTW -20 from South Africa. This is an anti-material weapon mostly designed to destroy important military equipment like radars, aircraft, supply points, and vehicles. This rifle can be configured to fire the Semi-Armour Piercing High Explosive Incendiary (SAPHEI) 20×82mm rounds or the 14.5×114 mm Armour Piercing Incendiary (API). While the 20mm could be used as a "sniper rifle" against enemy personnel, it isn't really made for that. The 14.5mm is much better, with less recoil, increased range and decreased noise, but there are much more effective systems to use. The idea is that a small team of soldiers could cause much havoc behind enemy lines by destroying the equipment needed to fight a war.

Output

One problem with this idea is that firing a gigantic gun like this is sure to draw some attention, primarily of the negative variety. While it has a range of at least 1500 meters, so do most mortars, which is what I would be firing in the direction of the massive report of this monster. So while it is a great weapon, the long term survivability of a team shooting it could be called into question. The weapon itself is absolutely huge, almost 6 and a half feet long and weighing 57 pounds without ammunition. It does break down into two backpacks, but in the real world those soldiers would also be carrying personal weapons, comm gear, armor, water, and food. So mobility is a bit of a problem.


Here is a video from Denel, it shows some of the amazing power this weapon can bring to bear. I don't know who came up with that lame, annoying music though.

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