Infantry weapons / Recoilless rifles / Folgore
Folgore
General Facts
- TYPE
Recoilless rifle - ORIGIN
Italy
- NICKNAMES
- - DESIGNED
Early 1980's - DESIGNER
Breda Meccanica Bresciana - PRODUCTION
1986 - 1990's - PRODUCERS
Italy - Breda Meccanica Bresciana
- QUANTITY
Unknown - UNIT COST
Unknown - CHARACTERISTICS
Long effective range
Very good accuracy
Good rate of fire
Limited armor penetration
Large and heavy
Introduction
The Folgore is a recoilless rifle of Italian origin. It was developed in the early 1980's by Breda. The Folgore design is unique as its provides a very good range and accuracy.
Design
The Folgore is a recoilless rifle with a conventional breech loading design, but differs in two aspects. First of all it uses rocket boosted ammunition that provides a very flat trajectory and long range. Second, when used on the tripod a large coincidence type range finder can be fitted which extends the effective range.
Firepower
The Folgore fires 80mm diameter HEAT rounds with a penetration of 450mm RHA, which is too little to engage modern tanks. Used with the magnifying range finder sight the maximum range is 1 km. When used from the bipod the effective range is halved. The maximum rate of fire is about 4 rpm, which can be maintained for two minutes before the weapon becomes too hot.
Mobility
Given its caliber the Folgore is rather heavy. In the bipod setup it can be easily carried by two men on the battlefield. When fitted with the sight and tripod it is less mobile and mostly used as a static weapon. Over longer distances it is normally transported by vehicle.
Users
The Folgore was only adopted by the Italian forces. It is used both in the bipod and tripod setup and has not been fitted to vehicles. The Folgore remains in service today although in its role as an anti-armor weapon it has been supplemented by more capable weapons.
Folgore
The Folgore comes in only one version but it is used in two setups. In the infantry role it is used with a small bipod and aimed using iron sights. As a crew served weapon it is used on a tripod and is fitted with the large range finding sight.
- Specifications:
- Folgore
Type | Recoilless rifle |
---|---|
Crew | 2 |
Caliber | 80 mm |
Length | 1.85 m |
Tube length | ? |
Width | ? |
Height | ? |
---|---|
Weight | 27 kg |
Firing arc | 360° traverse |
Sights | Mechanical or 5x range finding optical sight |
Ammunition | HEAT |
Velocity | 300 m/s at launch, 500 m/s in flight |
Penetration | 450mm RHA |
---|---|
Range | 500 m on bipod, 1 km on tripod |
Rate of fire | 4 rpm |
Remarks | - |