Anti-Tank Grenades (RPG)

Captured RPG-7 launchers stored at the Afghanistan Military Forces compound, Paktika province, Afghanistan, during Operation Mountain Sweep, 20 August 2002.

Soviet/Russian Rocket Propelled Grenade Weapons (RPG)

In the excellent Wikipedia article on the RPG, the origin of the name RPG is described:

Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) is a loose term describing hand-held, shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon capable of firing an unguided rocket equipped with an explosive warhead. RPG is the Russian acronym of "Ruchnoy Protivotankovy Granatomyot" and is translated into English as "handheld antitank grenade-launcher". The commonly used term "rocket-propelled grenade" is a mistranslation, backformed from the acronym RPG and does not follow correct naming conventions used by English speaking militaries to describe these weapons.

The first Soviet RPG was the RPG-2, a copy of the World War II German anti-tank Panzerfaust. The much improved RPG-7, a 40mm tube with 85mm warhead weapon, was adopted by the Soviet Armed Forces in 1961 and has become one of the world's most significant ground warfare weapons. The RPG-7 is relatively cheap and effective against most targets (excepting only heavily armored tanks). The RPG-7 achieved world-wide distribution to Soviet client states and through them to various non-state organizations. The RPG-7 is still part of the TO&E of dozens of different countries' armies in the 21st Century. Several of the countries using the RPG-7, besides Russia, are licensed to build their own including Bulgaria, China, Iran, Iraq, Romania and Pakistan.

A stockpile of Soviet RPG munitions seized by U.S. military personnel during Operation Urgent Fury, Grenada, 26 October 1983.

RPG weapons fire munitions that include HE (high-explosive for general use), HEAT (high-explosive, anti-tank shaped charges), illumination, smoke, tear gas, and others. The munition warhead is attached to a small rocket motor and body with stabilizing fins.

The success of the RPG-7 spawned a series of evolutionary weapons including the RPG-16D (folding, late-70s), the RPG-18 disposable ( mid-1970s,), RPG-22 disposable (mid-1980s), RPG-26 & the 105mm RPG-27 (late 1980s). The 105mm RPG-29, adopted by the Soviet Russians in 1989, is emerging in the Middle East in the mid-2000's as a weapon of choice for groups fighting allies of the United States in conflicts wtih Israel, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Additional Olive-Drab.com information is available for these RPG models:

• RPG-7
• RPG-29

Find More Information on the Internet

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