RL-83 Blindicide

The RL-83 Blindicide is a Belgian rocket launcher built mainly to defeat tanks, though it can also fire other rounds. Mecar SA produced it as an improved derivative of the American M20A1 bazooka, and its name roughly means tank killer, drawn from the French for armoured vehicle plus the suffix -cide. The 83 mm version fired a 1.6 kilogram projectile at about 100 metres per second, with a rate of fire near six rounds a minute and a range of 400 metres, and a 100 mm version also existed. A mechanical firing pin replaced the bazooka magneto system, which sped reloading. Its high-explosive anti-tank rocket can penetrate 300 millimetres of rolled homogeneous armour, and it also fires anti-personnel, smoke, incendiary and illumination rounds. Switzerland built a licence version, the Raketenrohr 58, and the weapon was used in conflicts including the Six-Day War, the Yom Kippur War and the Lebanese Civil War.