Colombian special forces join Ukrainian fight with advanced weaponry
Many foreign volunteers from the farthest corners of the world are also fighting in Ukraine. Among the most interesting cases are soldiers from special units in Colombia. Here is what they use to combat the Russians.
1:18 PM EDT, July 13, 2024
Ukraine eagerly utilizes experienced foreigners who fight in the International Legion. Below, you can see a unit of former special forces soldiers who came to Ukraine from Colombia, sending their greetings.
They belong to the 49th Independent Assault Battalion "Carpathian Sich" and are fighting somewhere in the region of Kreminna in the Luhansk Oblast. It is also evident that they possess significant anti-tank strength capable of eliminating a large armored assault by the Russians, as there are likely boxes of additional anti-tank launchers out of frame.
Here is what the Colombian volunteers are equipped with
The first soldier on the left is equipped with a standard RPG-7 anti-tank grenade launcher, with a likely Bulgarian or possibly Serbian PG-7VR grenade. It is a specialized tandem variant with a double cumulative head designed to penetrate reactive armor such as Kontakt-1/5 and bar armors.
This means that even the extensive use of scrap armor on Russian tanks will be ineffective, as the small cumulative head first clears a path through the armor for the larger one, which then detonates under optimal conditions.
According to the manufacturer, such grenades can penetrate 30 inches of steel armor, but their disadvantage is that they are significantly more cumbersome due to their length and weight. The PG-7VR grenade weighs about 10 pounds, while the standard PG-7VL grenades weigh about 6 pounds. The effective range of this weapon is 656 feet.
The second soldier is equipped with a universal PKM machine gun or its Bulgarian copy, the MG-M1. This support weapon is powered by 100 or 200-round belt segments. With a rate of fire of 650 rounds per minute, it allows for a much higher intensity of fire compared to standard magazine-fed rifles.
Furthermore, firing from the machine gun in the larger 7.52x54R mm caliber allows for much better penetration of ballistic shields (if they are real and not just made of planks) and the deployment of suppressive fire up to 1.24 miles. However, the weapon's downside is its weight, as the PKM/MG-M1 weighs approximately 19 pounds empty, increasing to 27 pounds when loaded with a 100-round belt.
The third soldier on the right is holding a simple single-use anti-tank grenade launcher, the AT4, likely from the USA or Sweden. Depending on the version, AT4 launchers can penetrate 13.8 to 18.1 inches of steel armor. However, some users of the latest AT4CS ER variants claim that penetration of 23.6 inches of steel is possible.
The range of these launchers varies between 984 feet and 1,968 feet, depending on whether we are talking about older or newer ER (Extended Range) versions. These are very good parameters for a weapon weighing approximately 15-20 pounds, which has already destroyed the best Russian tank, the T-90M.
The fourth soldier standing behind the third has a modern RGW90 grenade launcher, which gained fame in Poland due to an incident at the National Police Headquarters when it was fired by General Jarosław Szymczyk.
The RGW90 is a single-use 90 mm grenade launcher weighing between 16.5 and 20.3 pounds, utilizing a dual-function warhead type HEAT/HESH (cumulative/deformable), which is set before use. This allows for the destruction of both tanks and light fortifications.
The simplest HH variant's warhead can penetrate more than 19.7 inches of steel armor or more than 23.6 inches of steel with reactive armor for the tandem warhead variant, designated as HEAT/HESH-Tandem (HH-T). It is also a very safe weapon for the user as the grenade arms itself only after about 66 feet and can be fired from enclosed spaces without any problems, which can be lethal with many older designs. The theoretical maximum range of this grenade launcher is 1,640/1,968 feet, but the effective range will be lower, approximately 984/1,312 feet.
