RPG-7
RPG-7 | |
Type: | Rocket launcher |
---|---|
Country of origin: | Soviet Union |
Designed: | 1958 |
Used by: | Russia, most developing countries |
Number built: | 9,000,000+ |
Specifications | |
Weight: | 6.3 kg |
Length: 950mm | |
Barrel length: | |
Cartridge: | 85mm |
Rate of fire: | 6 rounds per minute |
Muzzle velocity: | 115 m/s (boost) 300 m/s (flight) |
Effective range: | 330m |
Sights: | Iron |
The RPG-7 is a handheld anti-tank grenade launcher, from the Soviet Union. It is the most widely produced grenade launcher in history, with several million made. RPG means Ruchnoy Protivotankoviy Granatomet literally: "a handheld anti-tank grenade launcher".[1] It is based upon a modified and upgraded design of the World War II German Panzerfaust.
The RPG-7 has seen much use since 1961. It is used by both terrorists and (para)military forces.
It has a range of 900 yards, but is quite inaccurate. It is notable for the way the operator uses their hands the wrong way around from other weapons. Warheads are usually a shaped charge anti-tank round, although many variants exist. It weighs about 15 lbs.[2]
Originally designed as a tank killer, two American Blackhawk helicopters were taken down in the Battle of Mogadishu (Somalia, 1993) by RPG-7s.
Ammunition
- PG-7VL - 93mm HEAT warhead; used against vehicles and fortified targets[3]
- PG-7VR - Dual 64mm/105mm HEAT warhead for defeating modern armored vehicles with reactive armor blocks.
- TBG-7V Tanin - 105mm thermobaric warhead for use against personnel and urban warfare
- OG-7V - 40mm Fragmentation warhead for anti-personnel warfare.
See also
- M72 LAW - the Light Antitank Weapon used by the American military, which replaced the bazooka
- AT4 - the replacement for the M72 LAW
- Stugna-P
References
- ↑ US Army Training Manual, full of diagrams and complex analysis
- ↑ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/rpg-7-specs.htm
- ↑ https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/rpg-7-specs.htm