L6 Wombat
Overview
Recoilless rifle
A recoilless rifle or recoilless gun is a lightweight weapon that fires a heavier projectile than would be practical to fire from a recoiling weapon of comparable size. Technically, only devices that use a rifled barrel are recoilless rifles. Smoothbore variants are recoilless guns...
used by the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
. They were used until anti-tank guided missile
Anti-tank guided missile
An anti-tank missile , anti-tank guided missile , anti-tank guided weapon or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily-armored military vehicles....
s such as Vigilant
Vickers Vigilant
The Vickers Vigilant was a British MCLOS wire guided anti-tank missile used by the British Army. It was licence-built for the US Marine Corps by Clevite in the USA.-History:...
and MILAN
MILAN
MILAN " is French and German for "kite bird") is a European anti-tank guided missile. Design of the MILAN started in 1962. It was ready for trials in 1971, and was accepted for service in 1972. It is a wire guided SACLOS missile, which means the sight of the launch unit has to be aimed at the...
took their place.
The Wombat replaced the earlier BAT and MoBAT weapons, themselves developments of the wartime designed "Ordnance, RCL, 3.45 in
Ordnance, RCL, 3.45 in
The 3.45 inch RCL was a British recoilless weapon, designed by Sir Dennis Burney during the Second World War. Delayed by problems due to wear upon firing, it did not see action, as was hoped, in the Far East...
" recoilless rifle, and was in turn replaced by anti-tank guided missiles. The L6 Wombat itself comprised the L12A3 BAT gun, but mounted on a new lightweight carriage.
