RPG-7

The RPG-7 (russian: link=no, РПГ-7, Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт, Ruchnoy Protivotankoviy Granatomyot) is a portable, reusable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank, rocket-propelled grenade launcher. The RPG-7 and its predecessor, the RPG-2, were designed by the Soviet Union, and are now manufactured by the Russian company Bazalt. The weapon has the GRAU index (Russian armed forces index) 6G3.

The ruggedness, simplicity, low cost, and effectiveness of the RPG-7 has made it the most widely used anti-armor weapon in the world. Currently around 40 countries use the weapon; it is manufactured in several variants by nine countries. It is popular with irregular and guerrilla forces. The RPG has been used in almost all conflicts across the world since the mid-1960s from the Vietnam War to the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian War.

Widely produced, the most commonly seen major variations are the RPG-7D (десантник – ''desantnik'' – paratrooper) model, which can be broken into two parts for easier carrying; and the lighter Chinese Type 69 RPG. DIO of Iran manufactures RPG-7s with olive green handguards, H&K pistol grips, and a Commando variant.

The RPG-7 was first delivered to the Soviet Army in 1961 and deployed at squad level. It replaced the RPG-2, having clearly out-performed the intermediate RPG-4 design during testing. The current model produced by the Russian Federation is the RPG-7V2, capable of firing standard and dual high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds, high explosive/ fragmentation, and thermobaric warheads (see below), with a UP-7V sighting device fitted (used in tandem with the standard 2.7× PGO-7 optical sight) to allow the use of extended range ammunition. The RPG-7D3 is the equivalent paratrooper model. Both the RPG-7V2 and RPG-7D3 were adopted by the Russian Ground Forces in 2001.

Description

The launcher is reloadable and based around a steel tube, 40 millimetres in diameter, 950 millimetres long, and weighing 7 kilograms. The middle of the tube is wood wrapped to protect the user from heat and the end is flared. Sighting is usually optical with a back-up iron sight, and passive infra-red and night sights are also available. The launchers designated RPG-7N1 and RPG-7DN1 can thus mount the multi-purpose night vision scope 1PN51 and the launchers designated RPG-7N2 and RPG-7DN2 can mount the multi-purpose night vision scope 1PN58.

As with similar weapons, the grenade protrudes from the launch tubes. It is 40–105 millimetres in diameter and weighs between 2.0 and 4.5 kilograms. It is launched by a gunpowder booster charge, giving it an initial speed of 115 metres per second, and creating a cloud of light grey-blue smoke that can give away the position of the shooter. The rocket motor ignites after 10 metres and sustains flight out to 500 metres at a maximum velocity of 295 metres per second. The grenade is stabilized by two sets of fins that deploy in-flight: one large set on the stabilizer pipe to maintain direction and a smaller rear set to induce rotation. The grenade can fly up to 1,100 metres; the fuze sets the maximum range, usually 920 metres.

Propulsion system

According to the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Bulletin 3u (1977) ''Soviet RPG-7 Antitank Grenade Launcher—Capabilities and Countermeasures'', the RPG-7 munition has two sections: a "booster" section and a "warhead and sustainer motor" section. These must be assembled into the ready-to-use grenade. The booster consists of a "small strip powder charge" that serves to propel the grenade out of the launcher; the sustainer motor then ignites and propels the grenade for the next few seconds, giving it a top speed of . The TRADOC bulletin provides anecdotal commentary that the RPG-7 has been fired from within buildings, which agrees with the two-stage design. It is stated that only a 2-metre standoff to a rear obstruction is needed for use inside rooms or fortifications. The fins not only provide drag stabilization, but are designed to impart a slow rotation to the grenade.

Due to the configuration of the RPG-7 sustainer/warhead section, it responds counter-intuitively to crosswinds. A crosswind will tend to exert pressure on the stabilizing fins, causing the projectile to turn into the wind (''see Weathervane effect''). While the rocket motor is still burning, this will cause the flight path to curve into the wind. The TRADOC bulletin explains aiming difficulties for more distant moving targets in crosswinds at some length. Similar to a recoilless rifle the RPG-7 has no noticeable recoil, the only effect during firing being that of the sudden lightness of the launcher as the rocket leaves the tube.

Ammunition

The RPG-7 can fire a variety of warheads for anti-armor (HEAT, PG-Protivotankovaya Granata) or anti-personnel ( HE, OG-Oskolochnaya Granata) purposes, usually fitting with an impact (PIBD) and a 4.5 second fuze. Armor penetration is warhead dependent and ranges from 30 to 60 centimetres of RHA; one warhead, the PG-7VR, is a 'tandem charge' device, used to defeat reactive armor with a single shot.

Current production ammunition for the RPG-7V2 consists of four main types:
* PG-7VL .1977Improved 93 mm HEAT warhead effective against most vehicles and fortified targets.
* PG-7VR .1988 Tandem charge warhead designed to penetrate up to 750 mm rolled homogeneous armour equivalence of explosive reactive armor and the conventional armor underneath. It has a range of 200 m.
* TBG-7V Tanin .1988105 mm Thermobaric warhead for anti-personnel and urban warfare.
* OG-7V .199940 mm Fragmentation warhead for anti-personnel warfare. Has no sustainer motor.

Other warhead variants include:
* PG-7V .1961Baseline 85 mm HEAT warhead capable of penetrating 260 mm RHA.RPG-7
– Military-Today.com
– Armyrecognition.com
* PG-7VM .1969Improved 70 mm HEAT warhead capable of penetrating 300 mm RHA.
* PG-7VS .1972Improved 73 mm HEAT warhead capable of penetrating 400 mm RHA.
* PG-7VS1 .mid-1970sCheaper PG-7VS version capable of penetrating 360 mm RHA.
* GSh-7VT .2013Anti-bunker warhead with cylindrical follow-through blast-fragmentation munition followed by explosively formed penetrator.

Specifications

Manufacturer specifications for the RPG-7V1.

Hit probabilities

A 1976 U.S. Army evaluation of the weapon gave the hit probabilities on a panel moving sideways at . Crosswinds cause additional issues as the round steers into the wind; in an (3 m/s) wind, firing at a stationary tank sized target, the gunner cannot expect to get a first-round hit more than 50% of the time at 180 m.

History of use

The RPG-7 was first used in 1967 by Egypt during the Six-Day War, and by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War, but it did not see widespread usage in Vietnam until the following year.

Accurate firing is difficult at ranges over 200 metres. During the Soviet–Afghan War, the mujahideen tended to use the weapon at ranges of less than 80 metres.

The RPG-7 was used by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2005, most notably in Lurgan, County Armagh, where it was used against British Army observation posts and the towering military base at Kitchen Hill in the town.Oppenheimer, A.R. (2009). IRA The Bombs and the Bullets: A history of deadly ingenuity. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. p. 227. . pp. 240–241 The IRA also used them in Catholic areas of West Belfast against British Army armoured personnel carriers and Army forward operating bases (FOB). Beechmount Avenue in Belfast became known as "RPG Avenue" after attacks on British troops.

In Mogadishu, Somalia, RPG-7s were used to down two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters in 1993.

During the first and second Chechen wars, Chechens used RPG-7 which they had captured from Soviet bases and used them against Russian armored columns. During the first war, Russians may have lost 100 tanks and 250 AFVs in Grozny. The Chechens were able to knock out T-90s with three or four RPG-7 hits. Against T-90s with Explosive Reactive Armor, the Chechens fired an RPG in close range (within 50m) to detonate the armor and then followed this with RPG hits on the now exposed point of the tank, also from close range. The RPG-7 was also effective against Armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs), buildings and personnel.

The PG-7VR has been showing up in use by Iraqi insurgents. On 28 August 2003, it achieved a mobility kill against an American M1 Abrams hitting the left side hull next to the forward section of the engine compartment.

During the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), several M1A2 Abrams were temporarily disabled by RPG-7 hits.

Users

*Jones, Richard D. ''Jane's Infantry Weapons 2009/2010''. Jane's Information Group; 35 edition (27 January 2009). .
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* : South Sudan Democratic Movement, Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, South Sudan Defence Forces, Sudan People's Liberation Army used RPG-7, Type 69s and Iranian-made RPGs.
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Non-state users

* Al Qaeda
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* Kurdistan Workers' Party
* Ulster Volunteer Force
* Provisional IRA

Former users

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Conflicts

1960s

* Vietnam War (1955–1975): First used in 1967.
* Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974)
* Rhodesian Bush War (1964–1979)
* South African Border War (1966–1990)
* Six Day War (1967)
* War of Attrition (1967–1970)
* The Troubles

1970s

* Yom Kippur War (1973)
* Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990)
* Western Sahara War (1975–1991)
* Kurdish–Turkish conflict (1978–present)
* Sino-Vietnamese War (1979)
* Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989)

1980s

* Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988)
* First Nagorno-Karabakh War
* 1982 Lebanon War
* First Liberian Civil War (1989–1997)

1990s

* Gulf War (1990–1991)
* Somali Civil War (1991–present)
* Yugoslav Wars (1991–2001)
* First Chechen War (1994–1996)
* Second Congo War (1998–2003)
* Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003)
* Second Chechen War (1999–2009)

2000s

* War in Darfur (2004–present)
* War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
* Iraq War (2003–2011)

2010s

* Libyan Civil War (2011)
* Syrian Civil War (2011–present)
* Mali War (2012–present)
* War in Iraq (2013–2017)
* Yemeni Civil War (2014–present)
* Insurgency in Northern Chad
* Russo-Ukrainian War (2014–present)

2020s

* 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War
* 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

See also

* RPG-2
* Panzerfaust
* Panzerfaust 2
* Panzerfaust 3
* PSRL-1

References

Bibliography

*

External links

Manufacturer's site





RPG-7 analysis and user´s manual

Technical data, instructional images and diagrams of the RPG-7

Ultimate Weapons Rpg 7 Military Channel
on YouTube

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rpg-07
Rocket-propelled grenade launchers of the Soviet Union
Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1961
Bazalt products
Modern thermobaric weapons of Russia
Modern incendiary weapons of Russia
Gun-mortars
Military equipment introduced in the 1960s