RP-3
Contents
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 1st 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:
- The Semi Armor-Piercing High-Explosive (HE) warhead (152 mm) with 5.44 kg of TNT explosives.
- 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
Usage in battles
Describe situations when you would utilise this rocket in-game (vehicle, pillbox, base, etc)
Pros and cons
Pros:
- 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
- Explosive warhead posses good high explosive damage post penetration
- 152 mm 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 of the warhead might detonate with non-relevant objects
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.
