RP-3

Description

The RP-3, also known as the 60-pounder rocket due to their Semi-Armour Piercing (SAP) warhead. This rocket was developed by the British military during World War II. In the game, these rockets are the backbone of many of the Royal Air Force's aircraft when fighting against both ground and naval targets. They served honourably with the Beaufighter twin-engine strike fighters during anti-shipping and anti-submarine duties. These rockets also served with the Typhoon fighters and their swift high-speed strafes against German tank and mechanized vehicle convoys.

Ground-to-ground usage though was limited, was a viable option. Decorated units such as the 1^st Coldstream Guards used them during the crossing of the Rhine river, in command of their Sherman "Tulips". The ground forces would generally use the RP-3 as a weapon for saturation bombardment and counter ambushes. Thanks to the explosive splash of the warhead, it was highly effective when used for this purpose.

The rockets were widely successful and remained in use long after the resolution of World War II.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

Vehicles equipped with this weapon
Fighters
Blackburn	Firebrand TF Mk IV · Firecrest
Fairey	Firefly F Mk I · Firefly FR Mk V
Hawker	Hurricane Mk IIB/Trop · Hurricane Mk IV · Tempest Mk II · Tempest Mk V · Typhoon Mk Ib · Typhoon Mk Ib/L · Sea Fury FB 11
Supermarine	Seafire FR 47 · Spitfire F Mk XVIIIe · Spitfire F Mk 22 · Spitfire F Mk 24
Westland	Wyvern S4
Twin-engine fighters	Beaufighter Mk X · Beaufighter Mk 21 · Hornet Mk.III · Mosquito FB Mk VI · Mosquito FB.Mk.26
Jet fighters
Gloster	Meteor F Mk 8 G.41K · Meteor F Mk.8 Reaper
de Havilland	Vampire F.B.5 · Vampire FB 52A · Venom FB.4
Hawker	Sea Hawk FGA.6 · ◄Sea Hawk Mk.100
Supermarine	Attacker FB 1 · Swift F.1
Bombers	Brigand B 1 · Swordfish Mk II
Medium tanks	Cromwell V (RP-3)

General info

The rocket is divided into two main components:

1. The Semi Armor-Piercing High-Explosive (HE) warhead (152 mm) with 5.44 kg of TNT explosives.
2. The "3-inch" rocket propellent body, the "3-inch" designation referred to the diameter of the rocket motor tube (76 mm), is also shared with the analogous of the RP-3, the AP Mk I and AP Mk II referred to as the 25-pounder rockets due to their solid Armour-Piercing (AP) warheads.

The muzzle velocity of the rocket is: 350 m/s, which is enough to account for minimal corrections at close range, however, the trajectory drop is a noteworthy concern, especially at long range (+400 m).

The warhead weight is 27 kg and the rocket engine tube weight is 37 kg.

Effective damage

With a fantastic penetration of 60 mm at a really close distance of 10 m, these rockets will create a lot of damage post penetration. If the target is too far away to obtain a successful penetration of the armour (beyond 1,500 m). The explosive air blast damage will cause splash damage which is able to penetrate up to 44 mm of armour in any direction.

The air blast of HE devastation was dreaded by the crews of light vehicles, half-tracks, and tank commanders; who at times preferred to abandon their vehicles during rocket attacks. This level of lethality can also be put to satisfactory use in War Thunder against the great variety of light vehicles and medium tanks, especially those in lower battle rated battles.

Comparison with analogues

Difference over bomb ordnance

The rocket payload allows you to aim more flexibly to one or several targets depending on the ability to efficiently spare them. While the bombs despite being more powerful and deadly, lack in numbers. This is a shared trait of most of the RAFs aircraft equipped with these two ordnance choices.

Another advantage over the bombs, it's the possibility to destroy a target from greater distances, without the need to pass over the target or get closer for a bomb run. This, however, means the pilots should be well versed in the trajectory drop of the rockets.

One of the main drawbacks of these rockets it's the lesser efficiency on heavier armoured vehicles, for example, The Maus, KVs, destroyers, and cruisers.

Usage in battles

The RP-3 rockets thanks to their versatility, work great in several battlefield environments and situations in War thunder.

The main aspects pilots should commit to always keep in mind are the following:

1. The designated target
2. The angle of approach
3. Correction of the rocket trajectory drop

• Once in the air, everything will be diminutive and hard to distinguish. The pilot will need to guide according to the allies calling targets or seek them on his own with the granted privilege of witnessing the developing battlefield beneath him. Once they find a suitable target that is capable to engage and likely to destroy, e.g., a panzer IV. You should proceed to the next step. 
• With a good angle of approach, the pilot prepares his plane correctly and ensures better probabilities of the strike upon the first pass. If a pilot uses roll banking too carelessly or in a hurried manner after the first enemy he sees, he will likely fail to strike. This granted to his inability to correct aerodynamically his angle of approach before opening fire and the likely deviation of the trajectory of the rocket, this is known as sideslip. The pilot must seek to align appropriately his sights and take in consideration the motion on his plane after any turn before opening fire. Using the roll axis to centre the aircraft's motion straight ahead. Once you've successfully positioned your angle of approach proceed to the next step.

• The question now lays in when to open fire. It's recommendable to practice the drop to get a better feel of when to fire. Using a salvo for a ranging attempt is considerable. Always keeping in mind the dangers or the zone such as anti-aircraft fire or enemy planes. If needed. You can always barrage the whole target and disengage.

Arcade Battles

In arcade battles equipping this rockets will grant you with a steady and constant ground strike weapon. Capable of destroying Medium tanks and Pillboxes with ease.

Pros and cons

Pros:

Abilities of the RP-3 unguided rocket

• Great damage for light and medium tanks up to 5.0 battle rating
• Useful balance in explosive mass, armour penetration and velocity
• Low weight allows for a considerable amount of rocket payload, up to 16 in some planes
• Explosive warhead posses good high-explosive damage post impact
• 152 mm calibre of the warhead will cause major damage

Cons:

• They struggle to pierce heavy armour 5.0+ battle rating, notably against Soviet sloped armour
• Muzzle velocity is the less favourable aspect, a lot of correction is needed
• The 152 mm calibre of the warhead might detonate with non-relevant objects
• No time fuze of any sort. Only ground and naval strike use

History

Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the article about the variant of the weapon;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the weapon;
• other literature.

Rockets
USA
70 mm	FFAR Mighty Mouse · Hydra-70 M247
110 mm	M8
127 mm	HVAR · Zuni Mk32 Mod 0 ATAP
298 mm	Tiny Tim
408 mm	Yasser
Germany
55 mm	R4M
73 mm	RZ.65
88 mm	Pb2
150 mm	Wgr.41 Spr
210 mm	Wfr.Gr.21
USSR
55 mm	S-5K · S-5KP · S-5M
80 mm	S-8KO · S-8M
82 mm	M-8 · ROS-82 · RBS-82
122 mm	S-13OF
127 mm	S-3K
132 mm	M13 · M-13UK · ROFS-132 · ROS-132 · RBS-132
212 mm	S-1of · S-21
240 mm	S-24 · S-24B
300 mm	M-31
420 mm	S-25O · S-25OF · S-25OFM
425 mm	TT-250
Britain
51 mm	RP
70 mm	CRV7 M247
80 mm	Type R80 SURA T-80-P 3 · Type R80 SURA T-80-US 3
87 mm	AP Mk I · AP Mk II
152 mm	RP-3
183 mm	Triplex R.P.
292 mm	Uncle Tom · Red Angel
Japan
100 mm	Type 5 No.1 Mod.9
120 mm	Type 3 No.1 Mod.28 Mk.1
130 mm	Type 75
210 mm	Type 3 No.6 Mod.27 Mk.1 · Type 5 No.6 Mod.9
China
55 mm	Type 57-1
70 mm	FS70
90 mm	Type 90-1
130 mm	Type 130-2
Italy
50 mm	ARF/8M3(AP-AT)
70 mm	Skyfire-70 AC/AP
France
68 mm	SNEB type 23 · TDA
70 mm	FZ49
100 mm	TBA ECC · TBA Multi-Dart 100 AB
120 mm	T10 140 · T10 151
Sweden
75 mm	srak m/55 Frida · srak m/57B
81 mm	Oerlikon Typ 3Z 8Dla
135 mm	m/56D · psrak m/70
145 mm	psrak m/49B · Psrak m/49/56
150 mm	srak m/51
180 mm	hprak m/49
Israel
80 mm	Flz.-Rakete Oerlikon
127 mm	AR