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  • RPG-7 Family

    Probably the most used anti armor weapon since the end of WW-2.

    Used in all parts of the world. Probably the anti armor weapon one is most likely to come into contact with.

    With new rockets it has not only gotten better at AT work but can do infantry support very well.


    http://www.g2mil.com/RPG.htm

    For All Seasons: The Old But Effective RPG-7 Promises to Haunt the Battlefields of Tomorrow

    by Mr. Lester W. Grau Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth, KS. ************************************************** *******************

    The RPG-7 anti-tank grenade launcher is one of the most common and most effective infantry weapons in contemporary conflicts. It is rugged, simple and carries a lethal punch. Whether downing US Blackhawk helicopters in Somalia, blasting Russian tanks in Chechnya, or attacking government strong points in Angola, the RPG-7 is the weapon of choice for many infantrymen and guerrillas around the world.

    The RPG-7 is the lineal descendant of the World War II German Panzerfaust. It is relatively cheap, quite effective and found everywhere. The RPG-7 was adopted by the Soviet Armed Forces in 1961. Today, it is part of the TO&E of over 40 different countries' armies and several of these countries, besides Russia, are licensed to build their own.(1) Other manufacturers include Bulgaria, China, Iran, Iraq, Romania and Pakistan.

    The RPG-7 is a shoulder-fired, muzzle-loaded, antitank and antipersonnel grenade launcher which launches a variety of fin-stabilized, oversized grenades from a 40mm tube. The launcher with optical sight weighs 6.9 kilograms (15.2 pounds) and has a maximum effective range of 300 meters against moving point targets and 500 meters against stationary point targets.

    The maximum range for antitank grenades against area targets is 920 meters, at which point the round self-destructs after its 4.5 second flight. The antipersonnel grenades reach over 1100 meters. Among the production grenades are the PG-7, PG-7M, PG-7N, and PG-7VL antitank grenades with armor penetrability of up to 600mm of rolled homogeneous steel. The PG-7VR is a tandem warhead designed to penetrate explosive reactive armor and the armor underneath. The OG-7 and OG-7M are high-explosive antipersonnel grenades.(2)

    The Soviet Army assigned one RPG-7 per motorized rifle squad.(3) Forces involved in regional conflicts tend to add more RPGs to their organizations. In the Iran-Iraq War, the Iranian 11-man squad had two RPG-7 gunners. In the Soviet-Afghan War, the Mujahideen (4) averaged one RPG for every 10-12 combatants in 1983-1985. By 1987, they were two RPG-7s for every 10-12 combatants.

    The Mujahideen formed special armored-vehicle hunter-killer teams where 50 to 80% of the personnel were armed with RPG-7s. This could be up to 15 RPGs. When there weren't mortars available, these groups also used their RPG-7s as a form of pseudo-artillery and conducted RPG preparation fires.(5)

    Constricted terrain (mountains, forest, jungle, and population centers) leads to close combat. When the combatants are 10-30 meters apart, artillery and air support is practically nonexistent due to the danger of fratricide. Close combat is a direct-fire brawl in which the RPG-7 excels.(6)

    Combat in the High Desert

    The Soviet -Afghan War lasted from 1979 to 1989 and pitted the local Mujahideen against the Soviet occupiers and the Afghan communist government. Afghanistan is a rugged land, full of towering mountains, vast deserts, "green zones"(7) and occasional forest. Guerrilla warfare favors the use of light infantry.

    The Soviets never fielded enough light infantry to match the quality light infantry of the Mujahideen. The RPG-7 was the Mujahideen weapon of choice and they proved its value as a light-weight killer against Soviet tanks, armored personnel carriers, trucks and helicopters. The Soviets tried to stay at least 300 meters away from the Mujahideen--out of AK-47 Kalashinikov assault rifle and RPG- 7 moving target range.(8) The Mujahideen, on the other hand, tried to get in close and "hug" the Soviet force to escape Soviet artillery and air strikes while using their RPGs to good effect.(9)

    Among the forces that the Soviets deployed to Afghanistan were two spetsnaz brigades.(10) The spetsnaz forces were not authorized RPG-7s in their TO&Es. Instead, they were issued RPG-16s or RPG-22s.(11) The RPG-16s and RPG-22s lacked the range and punch of the RPG-7, so spetsnaz troops used captured Chinese and Pakistani RPG-7s. They preferred these RPGs to the Soviet-manufactured model since they are lighter, and have a folding bipod and a convenient carrying handle. The spetsnaz found that the RPG-7 was ideal for taking out Mujahideen firing positions dug into mountain slopes. They would aim the RPG-7 to hit above and behind the firing position, showering the firing position with shrapnel and pieces of rock. (12)

    The Mujahideen used the RPG antitank grenades against both vehicles and personnel. The antitank round has a lethal bursting radius of some four meters and can kill with blast and shrapnel. The Mujahideen learned that the best way to destroy a vehicle was to engage it with two or three RPGs simultaneously from a range of 20-50 meters. The chances of hitting the target with a lethal shot are greatly increased by firing a number of shots at close range. Further, the vehicle under attack has less of a chance to react to the attack.

    The rebels in Tadjikistan in 1992 applied this same technique when attacking T-72 tanks equipped with reactive armor. Since they lacked the anti-reactive armor PG-7VR tandem warhead, the first gunner would hit the tank to blow a hole in the reactive armor and the second and third gunner would fire the kill shots at the exposed area. This "double-teaming" also usually took out the tank's vision blocks, so if the tank survived, it was blind allowing the RPG gunners time to reposition, reload and reengage. Another "trick of the trade" was to throw a fragmentation grenade on the T-72's front deck to take out the driver's vision block before the massed RPGs opened up on the tank. The optimum shot for the Tadjik rebels was against the rear section of the T-72 turret.

    The biggest danger to the RPG gunners was infantry accompanying tanks, so they tried to take out tanks that were out of immediate infantry support range. Further, RPG gunners usually were accompanied by supporting snipers and machine gunners and an assistant RPG gunner carrying an assault rifle. These could protect the RPG gunner from enemy infantry. It was absolutely necessary, if the RPG gunners were not firing from prepared positions, that they change firing positions after every shot. This was especially true if they failed to kill their target with the first shot or the target had a supporting vehicle in overwatch. RPG gunners who were caught up in the heat of the moment and stood their ground were quickly killed.(13)

    RPG-7s were especially valuable in executing an ambush. RPG positions were selected with particular care, then dug-in, reinforced and camouflaged. The area behind the firing positions were soaked for two-four meters in depth with water to prevent a tell-tale cloud of dust. The firing position was hidden within local foliage--brush, reeds, corn and tall grasses up to two meters high. It was only necessary to have a clear view of the target and an unimpeded pathway where the grenade could fly without be deflected by twigs and foliage. No matter how well camouflaged and watered-down a position, the launching signature of a RPG is unmistakable. The flash and the whitish blue-grey smoke is a clear giveaway and the surviving RPG gunner is one who quickly shifts positions or dives deep into a hole.

    Helicopter hunting

    While the RPG was designed to kill tanks and other combat vehicles, it has brought down a number of helicopters as well. During the fighting in Mogadishu, Somalia in October 1994, the two US Army Blackhawk helicopters shot down were by the RPG. In Afghanistan, the Mujahideen found that the best anti-helicopter tactics were anti-helicopter ambushes. The first variant was to identify likely landing zones and mine them. Then the Mujahideen would position machine guns and RPGs around the landing zone. As the helicopter landed, massed RPG and machine gun fire would tear into the aircraft.(14)

    If the Mujahideen could not lure helicopters into an ambush kill zone, the RPG could still engage helicopters. The Mujahideen found that a frontal shot at a range of 100 meters was optimum against an approaching helicopter.(15) As before, the more RPGs firing simultaneously, the better chance of a hit and escape from an avenging wingman.(16)

    Should the helicopters be flying further away, it was better to wait until the helicopter was 700-800 meters away and then fire, trying to catch the helicopter with the explosion of the round's self-destruction at 920 meters distance. Chances of hitting a helicopter at this range by the self-destruct mechanism were very limited, but they served to discourage reconnaissance helicopters and air assault landings, particularly if a SA-7 Strela or a Stinger shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile was also firing.(17)

    Combat in Cities

    In December 1994, the Russian Army entered the break-away Republic of Chechnya and attempted to seize the Chechen capital of Grozny from the march. After this attempt failed, the Russian Army spent two months in deliberate house-to-house fighting before finally capturing the city.(18) During the fighting, the Russian conscript force was badly mauled by the more-mature, dedicated Chechen force. During the first month of the conflict, Russian forces wrote off 225 armored vehicles as non-repairable battle losses. This represents 10.23% of the armored vehicles initially committed to the campaign.(19) The bulk of these losses were due to shoulder-fired antitank weapons and antitank grenades.

    The Chechen forces were armed with Soviet and Russian-produced weapons and most Chechen fighters had served in the Soviet Armed Forces. The Chechen lower-level combat group consisted of 15 to 20 personnel subdivided into three or four-man fighting cells. These cells had an antitank gunner (normally armed with the RPG-7 or RPG-18 shoulder-fired antitank rocket launcher), a machine gunner and a sniper.(20) Additional personnel served as ammunition bearers and assistant gunners. Chechen combat groups deployed these cells as anti-armor hunter-killer teams. The sniper and machine gunner would pin down the supporting infantry while the antitank gunner would engage the armored target. Teams deployed at ground level, in second and third stories, and in basements of buildings. Normally five or six hunter-killer teams simultaneously attacked a single armored vehicle. Kill shots were generally made against the top, rear and sides of vehicles. (See diagram 1) Chechens also dropped bottles filled with gasoline or jellied fuel on top of vehicles.(21) The Chechen hunter-killer teams tried to trap vehicle columns in city streets where destruction of the first and last vehicles will trap the column and allow its total destruction.

    The elevation and depression angles of the Russian tank barrels were incapable of dealing with hunter-killer teams fighting from basements and second or third-story positions and the simultaneous attack from five or six teams negated the effectiveness of the tanks' machine guns. The Russians attached ZSU 23-4 and 2S6 track-mounted antiaircraft guns to armored columns to respond to these difficult-to-engage hunter-killer teams.(22)

    Avoiding RPG fires

    The Soviets were not the only modern army to worry about the effectiveness of the RPG. South African and Namibian forces fighting Angolan guerrillas in Namibia during the 1980s learned to give the RPG a wide berth. Their standard drill, when traveling in an armored personnel carrier and encountering Angolan guerrillas with an RPG, was to immediately begin driving around the guerrillas in an ever-widening circle. They would fire into the circle with automatic weapons. The moving vehicle was harder for the guerrilla RPG gunner to hit and the soldiers were able to exploit their mobility and firepower.(23) Dismounting troops to advance on guerrillas while the stationary personnel carrier provides supporting fire is a good way to lose the carrier.

    Tanks and other ground combat vehicles need to be protected against the RPG. Sandbagging and mounting reactive armor were reasonable solutions until the introduction of the anti-reactive armor PG-7VR tandem round. The best short-term solution appears to be fitting combat vehicles with a light-weight stand-off screen. When the Soviets moved through heavy vegetation in Afghanistan, they would sometimes walk a wall of high-explosive fragmentation rounds in front of the vehicles to keep the RPG gunners at bay--or at least to ruin their aim.(24) This is an expensive option in terms of artillery or mortar rounds, but it does work.

    When practical, the best way to protect ground vehicles from the RPG is to put infantry well forward of the vehicles to find and destroy the RPG gunners. Combat vehicles should stay out of urban areas or areas dominated by overwatching terrain and tall trees until the infantry has cleared and posted the area. Moving under smoke or at night also helps protect ground vehicles. Convoys should have a security escort, smoke laying capability and helicopter coverage. All vehicle drivers should have several smoke grenades.(25)

    There are several ways to protect helicopters from the RPG:

    -Vary the take-off and landing directions from the helipads.

    -Never fly a "race-track" or other identifiable pattern.

    -Never follow streets, roads, canyons or river lines for any length.

    -Always allow 500 meters between the helicopter and its wingman. This allows the wingman full range of his weaponry to engage RPG gunners.

    -Vary the flight tactics and flying pattern, sometimes flying with two helicopters and sometimes with three.

    -Prep a LZ with an over-pressure system (fuel-air) before landing.

    -Use pathfinders on any LZ before committing the full landing force.

    -Never set patterns by time, formation or sequence of events.(26)

    The RPG-7 in future combat

    The RPG-7 will be around for a good while yet. It is a proven, cheap killer of technology which will continue to play a significant role--particularly when conventional forces are pitted against irregular forces. Russian veterans are enthusiastic about the RPG-7 and have suggested that the Russians need to develop an antipersonnel round, an incendiary round, a smoke round, an illumination round and other special-purpose rounds to give the RPG-7 more flexibility in future combat. (27) US soldiers need to be aware of the RPG-7 and how it has been deployed. The chances are, whenever a US soldier is deployed to a trouble spot, the RPG-7 will be part of the local landscape.


    Indonesian marine with RPG-7
    Hezbollah guerilla with RPG-7 and AK
    Israeli soldiers with CAR-15 and RPG-7
    Chinese soldiers with Type-69
    Afghani Mujahideen with RPG-7
    Attached Files
    To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

  • #2
    The Mighty RPG

    By Ralph Kinney Bennett

    Published 03/31/2003

    You're going to be hearing a lot about RPGs - rocket propelled grenades - in coming days. They are the weapons of choice for small Iraqi units that are resorting to creative guerrilla tactics because employing company size or larger units in open combat with coalition forces would be foolhardy and fatal.

    Just over a week ago, Iraqi troops from the Republican Guard's Medina division gave a little clinic in helicopter ambush, meeting a line of Apache Longbow copters with a well planned and executed wall of fire from machine guns, antiaircraft guns and RPGs. The Iraqis were dispersed along both sides of a street in a residential area near Baghdad, some firing from the rooftops of houses.

    The Iraqis badly damaged 30 of the Apache helicopters, foiled their attack on Republican Guard armor and sent them limping back home. They also disabled two Abrams main battle tanks - an unsettling occurrence. A counterattack and air strikes by U.S. forces killed most of the estimated 100 Iraqis involved in the ambush. But it was a lesson in effective small unit action. The Iraqis appear to have torn a page or two from tactics used by Mujahideen fighters against the Soviets in Afghanistan 1979-89. And one of their principal weapons is a Soviet-made one, the RPG-7.

    The Soviets introduced the RPG-7 (for Raketniy Protivotankoviy Granatomet) back in 1961 to give its infantrymen a weapon against NATO armor. It had several antecedents inspired by at least two World War II weapons - the American Bazooka and more particularly the German Panzerfaust.

    It has since become one of the most common weapons in the world, prized by insurgent forces. The Soviets made millions of them, sold them all over the world and licensed their manufacture. It was RPG-7s that were used by Somali rebels to down two U.S. Blackhawk helicopters in Mogadishu in October 1994.

    More than 40 armies use them today and they are made under license in Bulgaria, China, Romania, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq. There are many other versions of RPGs made around the world, including the U.S. M-72 LAW, a throwaway weapon. Some propelled grenades can be fired from the muzzles of standard infantry rifles

    The Soviet-designed weapon consists of a cheaply made but rugged shoulder-fired launcher. It looks a little like a crude submachine gun with leaf blower pipe bolted onto the back of it. This pipe, to exhaust the rocket flames, projects back over the shoulder of the person firing it. The RPG-7 fires a variety of slightly oversized grenades (high explosive, smoke, anti-personnel, armor piercing etc.). The grenade/warhead has a small solid-fuel rocket attached to it. This is loaded into the muzzle at the front of the launcher.

    When the shooter pulls the trigger it strikes a percussion cap that ignites the rocket. A flash rips back through the barrel and out the rear of the launcher. There is very little recoil, but you don't want to be behind the launcher, as the rocket flames shoot back as much as 20 yards. As the warhead spurts out of the muzzle, folded fins spring out from the base at its rear, stabilizing its flight like an arrow.

    RPG-7s have a practical range of about 50 or 60 yards in the hands of the average soldier. But in skilled hands a moving target can be hit at around 300 yards and 500 yards against a stationary target, like a bunker, is not unheard of. The launcher is rugged, easy to operate and weighs just a little over 15 pounds. If you've seen photos of guerrilla fighters all over the world chances are you've seen them carrying RPG-7s slung over their shoulders, usually with cone-shaped grenades loaded in the muzzles. Coalition forces have been coming across thousands of these launchers and grenades.

    In the Soviet-Afghan war, Mujahideen fighters formed hunter-killer teams of about 20 men, with as many as 15 of them carrying RPGs. In close combat, where neither air strikes nor artillery could be employed by the Soviets (because of fratricide fears) the RPGs were deadly weapons. Their most effective use was in ambushing Soviet armor and helicopters.

    In the armor attacks, Afghanis would catch a column of vehicles in confined areas, like a mountain pass or village street. In classic style, the first and last vehicles in the column would be brought under attack. Large numbers of RPGs would be fired from close range with great daring and skill. The first RPGs would be fired at tank "vision blocks" the periscopes or vision slits. Then other fighters would fire armor piercing rounds at the tanks reactive armor. Once the first RPG had blown a hole in this armor, second and third RPG men would fire rounds into the hole, often destroying the tank or killing the crew.

    One of the favorite Mujahideen tactics against helicopters was a direct frontal shot or barrage of shots from about 100 yards away as the chopper was approaching. Chechen rebels used similar tactics with RPGs in the bloody war in Chechnya that began in December 1994. They also proved adept at firing at Russian tanks from the basements of buildings, hitting the more vulnerable undersides of the big T-72s. The tanks were unable to lower their main guns enough to fire back into the basements.

    The Soviets and later the Russians learned from bloody experience to deal with RPGs. They used walking "walls" of high explosive fragmentation (antipersonnel) artillery shells to clear areas. They sent screens of infantry ahead of their tanks to pick off RPG gunners. And they learned to keep vehicles and helicopters moving and in undpredictable maneuvers.

    U.S. and British forces, which may have been surprised at first by the ferocity of the RPG attacks, are well trained to deal with them and are adapting. For one thing, anyone firing an RPG is in a very dangerous position. When fired an RPG gives off a large and unmistakable signature. The whoosh of rocket fire out the back kicks up dust and gravel. The round often leaves a whitish-gray trail of smoke behind it, leading directly back to the gunner. RPG gunners must move and seek cover as soon as they fire or they will be killed by counter fire from alert troops. Many a Mujahideen who paused for a moment to see the effect of his RPG round died in a hail of bullets before the Afghanis refined their tactics and learned to shoot and look later.

    The RPG is still an ugly weapon in a firefight. The blast radius of one of the antitank rounds is about 4 to 5 yards. Modern body armor such as coalition troops are wearing offers a fair amount of protection but it can magnify internal injuries due to blast overpressure on those close to the exploding warhead.

    Coming days should see some furious firefights as American and British troops encounter Iraqis with RPGs. In many cases, air strikes and withering suppressive fire from beyond the range of the RPGs can pretty much obviate the danger. But forewarned units taking proper countermeasures should find this venerable soldiers' weapon an annoyance but not a decisive factor in encounters as they press on toward Baghdad.

    ----------
    Northern Alliance soldier with Type-69
    Russian soldier in Chechnya with RPG-7
    Iranian militaman with RPG-7 during the 1980s
    Iraqi guerilla with RPG-7 (thermo warhead)
    Iraqi soldiers with AKs and RPG-7
    Attached Files
    To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

    Comment


    • #3
      The RPG-7 saw good use in the 1982 Lebanon on both sides. In the hands of Syrian commandos it turned the M-113 into a deathtrap which the IDF soldiers didn't like to ride in. It was fearsome in the opening days of the 1973 war with Egyptian Rangers who were landed behind the lines to hit IDF units coming to the front. The IDF picked it up as well and issued it to regular and elite units and many are still in service.

      I think the PLA used to have 2 Type-69s, 1 Type-56s light machine guns and 8 Type-56 automatic rifles in an infantry squad.

      Israel puts about 2 RPG-7s into a squad as well. Israeli gunners carry CAR-15s as well as the RPG-7 and rockets and the back up gunner has a CAR-15 as well as rockets, before the CAR-15 entered the gunners would often carry Uzis or AK-47s.

      Othen time 3rd world armies have the gunner with no backup weapon just the RPG-7 and some rockets. For example I have a seen a Khmer Rouge guerilla with a Type-69 (loaded) and 2 rockets tied together with string carried under his shoulder.

      Malaysia bought a bunch of Pakistani made Type-69s along with rockets to increase the punch of their infantry squads as they cut back men. It acts mostly as an infantry support weapon but of course could more then do anti armor missions for the tanks they could encouter.

      So how would some of you guys think the best way to deploy RPG-7s with say an 9-10 man infantry squad otherwise equipped with western weapons like the M-16A2/M-4A1, M-203 and M-249? Like 2 RPG-7s, 2 M-203s, 2 M-249s and 8 M-4A1s (1 issued to each gunner)? Or only one RPG-7?

      Of course the problem being a team weapon you kind of lose another rifleman to keep it ready to fire. Generally a 2 man team has 6-9 rounds.

      Iranian RPG-7 gunner
      RPG-7 with rockets
      Israeli team with RPG-7 and CAR-15s
      Syrian anti tank commandos
      Egyptian RPG-7 gunner
      Attached Files
      Last edited by troung; 21 Apr 05,, 05:50.
      To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

      Comment


      • #4
        sick pictures, and GREAT info

        thank you
        for MOTHER MOLDOVA

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