The M80 Zolja is an anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher. It is a single shot system chambered in a 64 mm caliber. Military Technical Institute Belgrade designed the weapon in the former Yugoslavia. The rocket launcher is still produced in the Republic of Serbia and Republic of Macedonia.
Design
The M80 Zolja is a recoilless infantry weapon for single use. The launcher and the rocket are combined into one unit. The M80 is very similar to the U.S.-made rocket launcher of the same type, M72 LAW, but the M80 has better accuracy and effective range.
Its production started needing a small portable weapon that could allow each soldier to quickly destroy an enemy light armored vehicle, fortification, or soldiers without special training. The M80 Zolja was made from lightweight materials (fiber with reinforced plastic), making it relatively small and light. It means it is easily portable and can be added to the equipment of every regular soldier. However, the need for smaller dimensions is the primary reason the M80 Zolja has a much smaller caliber than other anti-armor weapons produced in the former Yugoslavia.
M80 Zolja container
The M80 Zolja launcher is telescopic, and it is made of two tubes entirely drawn from one to another. It also contains a firing mechanism, sights (rear and front), carries handles, and two covers (front and back) to prevent dust from entering the tubes during transport. The telescopic design significantly improved its size and made it very small in transport mode than in the position for action. Changing ways from unarmed to armed is very simple and easy and takes only a few seconds.
Rocket
The rocket used in the M80 Zolja anti-tank system is 64 mm caliber. The rocket is located in the back of the launcher, and it is made of an explosive warhead, stabilizer fins, and rocket engines. It can penetrate 300 mm of steel armor at an angle of 90 degrees. The rocket is fitted with contact or a piezoelectric detonator. The self-destruction mechanism is also incorporated in the rocket to be destroyed after 4-6 seconds of flight does not hit the target. Rocket fuel is burned only when the rocket is in the grain, and the rocket’s speed on the end of the tube is 190 meters per second.
Technical features
| Type: | Anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher |
| Place of origin: | Yugoslavia, Republic of Serbia |
| In service: | 1980-present |
| Caliber: | 64 mm |
| Overall weight: | 3 kg |
| Launcher weight: | 1.58 kg |
| Rocket weight: | 1.42 kg |
| Fuel weight: | 0.128 kg |
| Length (unarmed): | 800 mm |
| Length (armed): | 1200 mm |
| Length (rocket with cupped wings): | 664 mm |
| Muzzle velocity: | 190 meters per second |
| Effective range (target size of 2 meters): | 220 meters |
| Maximum range: | 1280 meters |
| Detonation mechanism: | Point-initiated, base-detonated |