4 ms·

It didn't fire rockets. It's a recoilless rifle, IOW a cannon with an exhaust, not a bazooka-like rocket launcher.

meheleventyone 3y ago
And even things like the RPG-7 use a recoilless design to launch the projectile before the rocket ignites and you don’t see the user being impacted much at all by the rocket exhaust.
- sillywalk 3y ago
  Backblast is still a problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backblast_area https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backblast_area
  - meheleventyone 3y ago
    Err, yeah that comes out of the back of the recoilless rifle so only an issue for the people behind you not the person firing it unless they are too close to a wall or similar. With something like the RPG-7 the backblast is from the recoilless stage not the rocket.
    - sillywalk 3y ago
      > Backblast is still a problem Correction, I should have wrote: I wonder if backblast could be a problem? I suck at physics. Does Randall Monroe read hacker news? > Err, yeah that comes out of the back of the recoilless rifle so only an issue for the people behind you not the person firing it unless they are too close to a wall or similar. With something like the RPG-7 the backblast is from the recoilless stage not the rocket. (Read on for needlessly aggressive semi-amusing rest of the reply) While I have only personally fired one M72 rocket, and one round from a Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle, neither of which was in combat nor on a vehicle, I am still vaguely familiar with the concept of 'backblast'. I was concerned that the effects of said backblast against things like the terrain, and possibly things on the terrain, might negatively effect the continued ability of the Vespa and it's occupant to conduct a last ditch suicide attack towards an enemy tank at high speed.
      - meheleventyone 3y ago
        When aiming from the Vespa it’s probably more prudent to rely on the backblast as the weapon of choice before commencing scratching the tanks paintwork. :D Another comedy invention had the counter-mass of recoilless designs come from a second projectile that would fire out backwards which was abandoned for obvious reasons!

And even things like the RPG-7 use a recoilless design to launch the projectile before the rocket ignites and you don’t see the user being impacted much at all by the rocket exhaust.

sillywalk 3y ago
Backblast is still a problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backblast_area https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backblast_area
- meheleventyone 3y ago
  Err, yeah that comes out of the back of the recoilless rifle so only an issue for the people behind you not the person firing it unless they are too close to a wall or similar. With something like the RPG-7 the backblast is from the recoilless stage not the rocket.
  - sillywalk 3y ago
    > Backblast is still a problem Correction, I should have wrote: I wonder if backblast could be a problem? I suck at physics. Does Randall Monroe read hacker news? > Err, yeah that comes out of the back of the recoilless rifle so only an issue for the people behind you not the person firing it unless they are too close to a wall or similar. With something like the RPG-7 the backblast is from the recoilless stage not the rocket. (Read on for needlessly aggressive semi-amusing rest of the reply) While I have only personally fired one M72 rocket, and one round from a Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle, neither of which was in combat nor on a vehicle, I am still vaguely familiar with the concept of 'backblast'. I was concerned that the effects of said backblast against things like the terrain, and possibly things on the terrain, might negatively effect the continued ability of the Vespa and it's occupant to conduct a last ditch suicide attack towards an enemy tank at high speed.
    - meheleventyone 3y ago
      When aiming from the Vespa it’s probably more prudent to rely on the backblast as the weapon of choice before commencing scratching the tanks paintwork. :D Another comedy invention had the counter-mass of recoilless designs come from a second projectile that would fire out backwards which was abandoned for obvious reasons!