RPG 7
RPG 7, The RPG 7 Russian: РПГ 7 is a widely produced portable shoulder launched anti tank rocket propelled grenade weapon Originally the RPG 7 Reaktivniy Rocket Protivotankovye Anti Tank Granatamyot Grenade Launcher and its predecessor the RPG 2 were designed by the Soviet Union The weapon has the GRAU index 6G3 The ruggedness simplicity low cost and effectiveness of the RPG 7 have made it the most widely used RPG in the world Currently around 40 countries use the weapon and it is manufactured in a number of variants by nine countries It is also popular with irregular and guerrilla forces Numerous recent conflicts with such forces have seen extensive use of the RPG 7 including the Battle of Mogadishu War in Afghanistan and Iraq War The most commonly seen major variations are the RPG 7D paratrooper model able to be broken into two parts for easier carrying and the lighter Chinese Type 69 RPG The RPG 7 was first delivered to the Soviet Army in 1961 and deployed at a squad level It replaced the RPG 3 having clearly out performed the intermediate RPG 4 design during testing Its original design concept originated with two World War II era weapons: the American Bazooka and the German Panzerfaust The current model produced by Russia is the RPG 7V2 capable of firing standard and dual high explosive anti tank HEAT rounds high explosive/fragmentation and thermobaric warheads with a UP 7V sighting device fitted used in tandem with the standard 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