The RPG-18 Mukha () is a Soviet short-range, disposable light

anti-tank Anti-tank warfare refers to the military strategies, tactics, and weapon systems designed to counter and destroy enemy armored vehicles, particularly tanks. It originated during World War I following the first deployment of tanks in 1916, and ...

rocket launcher A rocket launcher is a weapon that launches an unguided, rocket-propelled projectile. History The earliest rocket launchers documented in imperial China consisted of arrows modified by the attachment of a rocket motor to the shaft a few i ...

designed in 1972, based on the American

M72 LAW The M72 LAW (light anti-tank weapon, also referred to as the light anti-armor weapon or LAW as well as LAWS: light anti-armor weapons system) is a portable one-shot unguided anti-tank weapon. In early 1963, the M72 LAW was adopted by the U.S. ...

. The RPG-18 has been in service in over 20 conflicts and used by over 20 armed forces across the world.

History

The RPG-18 is very similar to the US M72-series LAW

rocket launcher, with captured examples during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

likely being sent to the Soviet Union. The RPG-18 has been succeeded by the RPG-22, a very similar design with a larger

warhead A warhead is the section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket (weapon), rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: *E ...

Description

The RPG-18 fires a 64 mm ''PG-18''

high-explosive anti-tank High-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) is the effect of a shaped charge explosive that uses the Munroe effect to penetrate heavy armor. The warhead functions by having an explosive charge collapse a metal liner inside the warhead into a high-velocity ...

(HEAT) warhead mounted on a small rocket able to engage targets within 200 meters. The warhead self-destructs six seconds after launch, placing a limit on range even if a sight was used that was effective with targets beyond 200 meters. The RPG-18 can penetrate up to 300 mm of conventional vehicle armor ( RHA); up to 500 mm of reinforced concrete; and up to 1,000 mm of brickwork. However, performance is significantly lessened when the RPG-18 is used against targets protected by HEAT-resistant

explosive reactive armour Reactive armour is a type of vehicle armour used in protecting vehicles, especially modern tanks, against shaped charges and hardened kinetic energy penetrators. The most common type is ''explosive reactive armour'' (ERA), but variants include ...

(ERA) or

composite armor Composite armour is a type of vehicle armour consisting of layers of different materials such as metals, plastics, ceramics or air. Most composite armours are lighter than their all-metal equivalent, but instead occupy a larger volume for the s ...

. Unlike similar weapons, the RPG-18 requires only one operator as it is not reloadable.

Users

* * * * * * * * *

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

* Iraqi insurgents * * * * ** * * * **

Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA; ) is a Big tent, big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition (2011–2024), Syrian opposition rebel groups in the Syrian civil war founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defe ...

* * * *

Former users

Chechen Republic of Ichkeria The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria ( ; ; ; abbreviated as "ChRI" or "CRI"), known simply as Ichkeria, was a ''de facto'' State (polity), state that controlled most of the former Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Checheno-Ingus ...

Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (, FDLR; , IDKR) is an armed rebel group active in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. As an ethnic Hutu group opposed to the ethnic Tutsi influence, the FDLR is one of the last fact ...

* : Used by DPR forces during the

War in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

and the

2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

before their annexation by Russia in November 2022. * Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) * * :

Sandinista Popular Army The Sandinista Popular Army (SPA) (or People's Army; , EPS) was the military forces established in 1979 by the new Sandinista government of Nicaragua to replace the Nicaraguan National Guard, following the overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. ...

* : Passed on to successor states. *

Real Irish Republican Army The Real Irish Republican Army, or Real IRA (RIRA), was a dissident Irish republican paramilitary group that aimed to bring about a United Ireland. It was formed in 1997 following a split in the Provisional IRA by dissident members, who rejec ...

References

General

* Jones, Richard. ''Jane's Infantry Weapons 2005–06''. Coulsdon: Jane's, 2005. .

External links

RPG-18

Military Factory
{{Russian RPG series Cold War anti-tank rockets of the Soviet Union Military equipment introduced in the 1970s