The RGO hand grenade (''Ruchnaya Granata Oboronitel'naya'', ("Hand Grenade Defensive")) is a defensive

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 national ...

fragmentation

hand grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern ...

. It consists of a double layered steel pre-fragmented body. It is very similar to the single-layered offensive aluminium-bodied RGN hand grenade. It uses the UDZS dual action fuze, which has both impact and time delay functions. The impact fuze arms after a pyrotechnic delay of 1 to 1.8 seconds. If the impact fuze has not triggered the grenade after 3.2 to 4.2 seconds a second pyrotechnic delay triggers the grenade. The fragments produced by the grenade generate a lethal radius of between and , with the safety radius being . Unlike the two-part hemispherical RGN, the RGO is made up of 4 quadrants. One of the lower quadrants has a diamond-shaped cross-hatching in the outer shell. This is designed to help the operator to distinguish it by touch from the smooth-shelled RGN in low-light or dark conditions.

History

The RGN and RGO grenades were developed under Project BAZALT ("Basalt") during the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...

to supplement the RGD-5. When in combat in the mountains Soviet troops found their grenades were less effective. The steep terrain often caused grenades to accidentally bounce or roll back towards the thrower's position and cause friendly casualties. The long fuse time allowed the enemy forces to get under cover – or even throw or knock the grenade back if they were lucky. The RGO's time delay fuze prevents friendly casualties if it impacts too soon or will air-burst over an enemy under cover if it hadn't impacted. The impact fuze detonates when it hits any terrain – even sand, snow, or water. The grenade is still in production in Russia and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

and is in service with a number of countries.

References

U.S. Army FM 3-23-30 APPENDIX D
at GlobalSecurity.org * ''Janes Infantry Weapons 1991-1992'', Fragmentation grenades Hand grenades of the Soviet Union {{Grenade-stub

History

See also

References