The WoT’s allergy to recoilless rifles and smoothbores: LHMTV Light Tank
Greetings,
Following up with the promise on the Cavalier that I would be further browsing the veracity in vehicles that Wargaming has added in recent times I came up with a very old issue, Wargaming’s World of Tanks lifelong inability to develop smoothbore and recoilless rifled guns.
It got reminded about this subject that has been occasionally talked over the years and made its appearance in Q&As while taking a look at the LHMTV that was introduced in the summer of 2019.
The LHMTV was designed with a hydropneumatic suspension just like the S-Tank which is something that it doesn’t have in World of Tanks and its armour is way over buffed as you clearly can’t have 60mm armour on such a small vehicle that only weighs 4 tons.
But the biggest mishap in the LHMTV in WoT is actually its gun, this vehicle was designed to have equipped a 120mm recoilless BAT gun as its primary role is reconnaissance and totally not meant to be trading fire unless it had no other resort:
Instead of the recoil being absorbed by the breech and recuperators sending the gun backwards, the hot gas is ejected out the rear at the same velocity equalizing the recoil, Newtons 3rd law, simple science.
120mm recoilless BAT gun
Wargaming, for many years now, has refused to add recoilless and smoothbore guns.
The excuses/reasons given as far as back in 2013 in Q&As by Serb on Recoiless Rifles was due to their the penetration inflation;
Recoiless Rifles’s typically use HE, HESH, HEAT – these also have typically very high penetration offset by relatively low velocity.
A somewhat valid argument given that the guns were moderately more realistic with their historical penetration back in those days but the parameters and development standards have decreased as years drove by and at the present time, they frequently make up damage, aiming and penetration values, which makes the original point irrelevant.
On the Smoothbore guns, the argument that it “is too modern” has been given, an example:
The idea that smoothbore guns are too modern is also hogwash as many smoothbore guns were developed and used in WW2.
The 8cm PAW, as an example.
They were however somewhat inaccurate and also suffered from low velocity, but this is not an issue for shaped charge rounds which do not lose penetrating power over distance. As tanks and combat ranges progressed, most wanted long-range fire and accuracy and rifled guns of the period were better for this, with later computerized systems and ballistics, the smoothbore once again came into play, able to fire both HEAT more effectively (you can fire HEAT in a rifled gun, just not as reliably and later APFSDS which prefers smoothbores.
Perhaps their argument could have been made on the basis that shaped charge is “too modern” but shaped charges have been in World of Tanks since forever not to mention that WoT now goes up to the mid 70’s in terms of technological armoured development and reactive armour has been around since 1955, the point is once again irrelevant, null and void and in all honesty and respect, a load of bollocks.
To conclude, are they too lazy to develop something new and over their heads with a much -community- disagreed upcoming New Balance? Do they think, we, the community, are stupid enough to accept their unplausible arguments or they are actually being honest with us and simply do not understand how Recoiless Rifles and Smoothbores worked in practice throughout the history of their development? You decide.
Greetings, Following up with the promise on the Cavalier that I would be further browsing the veracity in vehicles that
