The RPG-27 is a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

single shot disposable

grenade launcher A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially-designed large-caliber projectile, often with an explosive, smoke or gas warhead. Today, the term generally refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary grenade cartridges. The most ...

. It entered service with the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

in 1989.

History

The RPG-27 ''Tavolga'' ('meadow grass') was developed by the State Research and Production Enterprise,

Bazalt NPO Bazalt (russian: НПО «Базальт») is a weapons manufacturing company in Russia that took over (or continued) the production of weapons such as the RPG-7 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. NPO Bazalt manufactures the RPG-7V2 a ...

, as a modern

anti-tank Anti-tank warfare originated from the need to develop technology and tactics to destroy tanks during World War I. Since the Triple Entente deployed the first tanks in 1916, the German Empire developed the first anti-tank weapons. The first de ...

designed to defeat modern and future tanks with advanced reactive and composite armor as well as fortified

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mari ...

. The RPG-27 was developed by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

from the

RPG-26 The RPG-26 ''Aglen'' is a disposable anti-tank rocket launcher developed by the Soviet Union. It fires a single-stage rocket with jack-knife fins, which unfold after launch. The rocket carries a diameter high explosive anti-tank single shap ...

Description

The RPG-27 shares a close resemblance with the previous

in that it is a man-portable, disposable anti-tank grenade launcher with a single shot capacity. The RPG-27 has a larger diameter round than the RPG-26 which enables the RPG-27 to achieve higher armour penetration performance. The RPG-27 fin stabilised round is a 105 mm

tandem-charge A tandem-charge or dual-charge weapon is an explosive device or projectile that has two or more stages of detonation, assisting it to penetrate either reactive armour on an armoured vehicle or strong structures. Anti-tank Tandem charges are e ...

HEAT In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is al ...

warhead with a range of 200 meters. The round has a stated penetration capability in excess of 650 mm of RHA (after

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

) and 1500 mm of brick or concrete and 3700 mm of earth.

Variants

RShG-1

The RShG-1 (Реактивная Штурмовая Граната, Reaktivnaya Shturmovaya Granata, Rocket-propelled Assault Grenade) ''Tavolga-1'' (Таволга-1) is a variant of RPG-27 with

thermobaric A thermobaric weapon, also called an aerosol bomb, a vacuum bomb or a fuel air explosive (FAE), is a type of explosive that uses oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion. The fuel–air explosive is one of the b ...

warhead. It is intended to be used against soft skinned and lightly armored vehicles, buildings, military installations and infantry. The RShG-1 is very similar in operation to the RPG-27. It has a lethal radius of 10 meters and a larger sighting range of 600 meters. The warhead contains 1.9 kilograms (4.19 pounds) of thermobaric mixture, with an explosive yield roughly equal to that of 8 kilograms (17.6 pounds) of TNT. Officially adopted by the Russian Government in December 2011.

RMG

RMG is a smaller, multipurpose variant of the RShG-1 that is optimized for the

bunker buster A bunker buster is a type of munition that is designed to penetrate hardened targets or targets buried deep underground, such as military bunkers. Armor piercing shells Germany Röchling shells were bunker-busting artillery shells, developed b ...

role and defeating light vehicles and infantry in cover. As a result, its penetration performance against tank armor is reduced. The launcher carries a tandem warhead. The precursor high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead penetrates armour or other obstacles (reinforced concrete, masonry, etc.). The aerosol produced by the main thermobaric warhead enters the target through the opening created by the precursor charge and combusts, producing high-explosive and incendiary effects. The RMG rocket launcher ('RMG' stands for “Reaktivnaya Mnogotselevaya Granata” or rocket-propelled multi-purpose grenade) was developed by Bazalt in the early 2000s. The launcher and round share the same designation, as is standard for disposable rocket launchers. S. Kh. Irtuganov was the lead designer for the project. It was officially adopted by the Russian Government in December 2011.

Operators

Current operators

* * * * - Former operators but discontinued. Captured from Russia.

Former operators

References

External links

Rosaboronexport Catalogue
Anti-tank rockets Modern anti-tank rockets of Russia Cold War anti-tank rockets of the Soviet Union Rocket-propelled grenade launchers Bazalt products Modern thermobaric weapons of Russia Military equipment introduced in the 1980s {{weapons-stub