At the 3rd Stockholm International Defense Exhibition, the Dragon Soul Ordnance Complex also launched a low-cost wheeled assault gun. Because, although the Dragon tank is very advanced, but the price is very high, although some countries want to buy in large quantities, but because the procurement cost is too high, and can only buy a small amount. But wheeled assault guns can fill this gap.

This Warrior wheeled assault gun launched by the Dragon Soul Ordnance Complex is an anti-tank self-propelled artillery system with a highly mobile wheeled chassis. In this way, its cost is very low, only about a quarter of the Dragon tank, but its combat effectiveness is not low! Equipped with a 57-mm anti-tank gun and an anti-tank rocket launcher, it can be said that both heavy and light tanks will be blown to pieces in front of it. Against medium and light tanks, anti-tank guns are used, and against heavy tanks, anti-tank rockets are optionally used.

In fact, several German companies are developing anti-tank guns, of course, those anti-tank guns are self-propelled guns or towed, which are much worse than the Warrior anti-tank destroyers. With Hitler's ascension to power on January 31, 1931, Germany began to massively expand its army equipment, and since the Versailles Treaty did not allow the German army to have tanks, it became a top priority to defend the tank forces of neighboring countries. In 1934, Rheinmetall developed the PAK-35/36 37mm anti-tank gun in accordance with the requirements of the military, which used a light bipedal gun mount with a body tube ratio of 42.2 times, a semi-automatic horizontal opening of the gun latch, and a hydraulic stationary and retreating machine. The maximum rate of fire is 15 rounds per minute, the muzzle velocity is 782 meters per second when using standard armor-piercing shells, it can penetrate 48 mm armor at a distance of 450 meters, and the total combat weight is 382 kg.

The gun was put into service during the Spanish Civil War, and 6 anti-tank artillery regiments were sent to Spain to support the rebels, and it worked well against Soviet BT tanks and T26 tanks. Later in the Polish War, the effect was also very satisfying, and it was able to fire multiple ammunition. Its modification, the KWK36 type, which was specially designed for tanks, also entered the German tanks, where it was equipped on tank No. 3 and became the core weapon of the German armored forces. The craftsmanship of German anti-tank artillery has also begun to attract the attention of the world, and the United States, Japan, and the Soviet Powers have referred to the PAK-35/36 when designing tank guns. At the same time, this gun was also sold to the Soviet Union and China, and the Soviet Union used this as a model to expand the caliber and power to become its own 45 series anti-tank gun. As for the American M3 37-mm anti-tank gun, it directly copied its technology and became the backbone of the American small-caliber anti-tank gun.

However, in the next battle against France, although the Germans hoped that the PAK35/36 would continue to perform well and were entrusted with the important task of defending against the French tank attack, this time they encountered a series of opponents with thick armor, such as Matilda tanks and B1 tanks, and their performance was beaten back to the prototype. The British recalled that when Matilda's tanks attacked the German anti-tank gun positions, the German soldiers were knocked down by the British tank machine guns after firing only a few shots, and the rest abandoned the guns and fled, or fell down and pretended to be dead. As for its version of the tank gun, the KWK36 could only destroy the shutter bonnet of the B1 at close range. And other times it is completely impossible to penetrate.

On the battlefield, the German army found that the PAK-35/36 was even more effective against the new Soviet tank, and because they had to deal with the Soviet T34 tank and the heavier KV-1, the German soldiers could only jokingly call it a "knocking weapon", which means that it can only make a sound. The No. 3 tank was hit by the Soviets T34 panic, Hitler was furious and demanded the development of a long-barreled 50 mm gun to make up for this disadvantage, in fact, the German army has also done a way to make amends, that is, to use tungsten core armor-piercing shells, and at the same time increase the muzzle velocity to 1030 meters per second. Armor-piercing ability increased by 30%.

So, German anti-tank guns, which could not maneuver and did not have armor protection. When facing tanks, the survival rate is not high. The Warrior Tank Destroyer is different, its highly mobile wheeled chassis allows it to not only run on plains and roads, but also in complex terrain. Its full weight is just over five tons, its maximum travel speed reaches 70 kilometers per hour, and the range of an anti-tank rocket reaches 1,000 meters. Can penetrate armor up to 200 mm thick. And the 57-mm anti-tank gun could penetrate 1000 mm thick armor at a distance of 80 meters.

Of course, tank destroyers are not new, for example, Germany has built a small number of tank destroyers, but the performance of these products is unknown. Their anti-tank record is not even comparable to that of the cameo III assault gun. The threat of the T26 tank made the Germans in dire need of more powerful anti-tank weapons. After the failure of the imitation T26. The Germans quickly found an alternative by using a long-barreled 75mm gun on their own tank chassis as a support weapon to fight in conjunction with the armored forces. As a result, several models of Weasel tank destroyers were put into production almost simultaneously. Their common feature is that they are cobbled together with existing equipment, and the power of Type 1 and Type 2 can penetrate 80-90mm armor at a distance of 1000 meters, and by Type 3, the distance has reached 2000 meters.

The difference between these models is not very big. With a total weight of more than 10 tons, it is a light tracked combat vehicle. And they all focus on firepower and ignore protection. This is manifested not only in weak armor, but also in the fact that the fighting compartment is open and high. As the forerunner of the German tank destroyer, this series established the direction of the development of tank destroyers in one fell swoop: a small car with a cannon.

Many people confuse the two weapons, self-propelled anti-tank guns and tank destroyers, even some so-called professional sources. True, both sides are extremely similar, both have maneuverable low plates, both have armor protection, both have an anti-tank gun, but in fact there is a difference between the two. Grammatically speaking, the key word for "self-propelled anti-tank gun" is "gun", which means an anti-tank gun that can maneuver on its own strength; The key word for "tank destroyer" is "car", which means a vehicle capable of destroying tanks. The specific differences between the two sides are concentrated in the chassis.

In general, self-propelled anti-tank guns have low chassis performance and weak armor defense, which can only provide basic maneuverability and defense capabilities for anti-tank guns. The chassis of tank destroyers is much more powerful, often using the chassis of medium or even heavy tanks in service. For example, the German Cheetah and the Tiger, respectively, use the chassis of the Leopard medium tank and the King Tiger heavy tank, and the Soviet SU85 and ISU122, respectively, use the chassis of the T34 medium tank and the Stalin heavy tank. This type of chassis is not only capable of providing high-performance maneuverability for tank destroyers, but also has the potential to provide it with defense capabilities or firepower that even surpass those of this type of tank. Of course, the cost is also very high.

As a low-cost anti-tank weapon system, the Warrior assault gun was sought after as soon as it was launched, it was cheap, and it had great firepower, the most prominent thing was its anti-tank rocket, and any tank was vulnerable in front of it. So the sales of the Warrior assault gun were no less impressive, and a sales agreement for a total of 2,500 units was signed during the defense exhibition. (To be continued.) )