RPG-7


The RPG-7 is a portable, reusable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank grenade launcher. The RPG-7 and its predecessor, the RPG-2, were designed by the Soviet Union, and are manufactured by the Russian company Bazalt. The weapon has the GRAU 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. Roughly 40 countries use the weapon; it is manufactured in several variants by nine countries. It is popular with irregular and guerrilla forces.
Widely produced, the most commonly seen major variations are the RPG-7D 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 style pistol grips, and a commando variant.
The RPG-7 was first delivered to the Soviet Army in 1961 and deployed at the squad level. It replaced the RPG-2, having clearly out-performed the intermediate RPG-4 design during testing. The Russian Federation produces the RPG-7V2, capable of firing standard and dual high-explosive anti-tank rounds, high explosive/fragmentation, and thermobaric warheads, with a UP-7V sighting device fitted 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, in diameter, long, and weighing. 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 infrared 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 in diameter and weighs between and. It is launched by a gunpowder booster charge, giving it an initial speed of, and creating a cloud of light grey-blue smoke that can give away the position of the shooter. The rocket motor ignites after and sustains flight out to at a maximum velocity of. 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 ; the fuze sets the maximum range, usually.

Propulsion system

According to the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command Bulletin 3u 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 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. 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.

Variants

Based on the standard RPG-7, a lightweight airborne version with a detachable barrel was developed, along with a series of modifications differing in sighting systems:
; RPG-7
; RPG-7V
; RPG-7D
; RPG-7N / RPG-7DN
; RPG-7V1
; RPG-7D1
; RPG-7V2
; RPG-7V2 "Gaya"
; RPG-7D2
; RPG-7D3
; B41M
; Airtronic USA RPG-7
; Airtronic USA Mk.777

Ammunition

The RPG-7 can fire a variety of warheads for anti-armor or anti-personnel purposes, usually fitting with an impact and a 4.5 second fuze. Armor penetration is warhead dependent and ranges from of RHA; one warhead, the PG-7VR, is a 'tandem charge' device, used to defeat reactive armor with a single shot. The Russian Ministry of Defense said in December 2023 that it has modified the RPG-7V grenade launcher in order to shoot 82-mm mines.
Current production ammunition for the RPG-7V2 consists of four main types:
  • PG-7VL – improved HEAT warhead effective against most vehicles and fortified targets.
  • PG-7VR – tandem charge warhead designed to penetrate up to rolled homogeneous armour equivalence of explosive reactive armor and the conventional armor underneath, or penetrate up to 900mm RHA without ERA. It has a range of.
  • TBG-7V Tanin – thermobaric warhead for anti-personnel and urban warfare.
  • OG-7V – fragmentation warhead for anti-personnel warfare. Has no sustainer motor.
Other warhead variants include:
  • PG-7V – baseline HEAT warhead capable of penetrating RHA.
  • PG-7VM – improved HEAT warhead capable of penetrating RHA.
  • PG-7VS – improved HEAT warhead capable of penetrating RHA.
  • PG-7VS1 – cheaper PG-7VS version capable of penetrating RHA.
  • GSh-7VT – anti-bunker warhead with cylindrical follow-through blast-fragmentation munition followed by explosively formed penetrator.
  • OGi-7MA – anti-personnel fragmentation munition developed for the Bulgarian ATGL-L. improved equivalent to the Soviet OG-7V. Compatible with RPG-7.

    Specifications

Manufacturer specifications for the RPG-7V1.
NameTypeImageWeightExplosive weightDiameterPenetrationLethal radius
PG-7VLSingle-stage HEAT OKFOL > RHA
PG-7VRTandem charge HEAT OKFOL / RHA

RHA
OG-7VFragmentation A-IX-1
TBG-7VThermobaric ОМ 100МИ-3Л + A-IX-1

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 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.
Range
m 		Percent
100
96
51
22
9
4

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.
The RPG-7 was introduced to North Vietnam starting in 1966 was widely used by North Vietnamese forces and the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. It was a crucial weapon for the Vietnamese, especially against American tanks and other armored vehicles. It was supplied to them by the Soviet Union and China.
The RPG-7 was used by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2005, particularly in Lurgan, County Armagh, against British Army observation posts and the towering military base at Kitchen Hill in the town. The IRA also used them in Catholic areas of West Belfast against British Army armoured personnel carriers and Army forward operating bases. 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, the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria used RPG-7s 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 armoured fighting vehicles in Grozny. The Chechens were able to knock out T-72s with three or four RPG-7 hits. Against T-72s with explosive reactive armor, the Chechens fired an RPG in close range to detonate the armor and followed this with RPG hits on the then exposed area of the tank, also from close range. The RPG-7 was also effective against AFVs, buildings and personnel.
The PG-7VR has been used 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, several M1A2 Abrams were temporarily disabled by RPG-7 hits.

Users

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