RPG.

This is coolbert:

Russian weapons development still in a high state of ferment. NO abatement to the advancements at both the highest and lowest levels of technology.

The RPG for instance. The rocket-propelled-grenade [RPG].

The RPG, a favorite weapon of what used to be the Eastern Bloc forces. An anti-tank weapon allowing the man-a-foot, the infantryman, to successfully engage and destroy a tank at close-quarters.

The RPG, firing a shaped-charge "round", able to destroy a tank with the thickest armor, the shaped-charged weapon originally used as a tank killer by the Germans with their panzerfaust "pea-shooter" of World War Two fame.

That shaped-charge round giving off an extremely hot jet of gas that MELTS through the thickest of armor, killing crew and setting afire inside the tank anything combustible.

Back in my day [over forty years ago now], the Soviets fielding the RPG-2 and the RPG-7! The RPG now found in versions RPG-27 and RPG-30! Much more advanced, larger, more robust and deadly versions of the original. The RPG-2 called the B-40 by communist forces in Vietnam.

Surprisingly, the Russians "copying" to a degree the design of the American light-anti-tank weapon [LAW] from the era of the 1960's. The latest Russian RPG versions being a one-time-use and throw-away version, resembling in use, shape, and feel the 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 66 mm unguided anti-tank weapon"

The latest RPG larger and robust and capable than the LAW! The LAW fired a "round" that was 66 mm, the current Russian RPG firing a "round" that is 105 mm!

1. The RPG-27. Firing a tandem round [back to back] designed to defeat the "Blazer" type reactive armor.

"The RPG-27 'Tavolga' ('meadow grass') . . . a modern anti-tank grenade launcher designed to defeat modern and future tanks with advanced reactive and composite armor as well as fortified infantry"

"is a man-portable, disposable anti-tank rocket launcher with a single shot capacity. The RPG-27 . . . [with] PG-27 fin stabilised round is a 105 mm tandem shaped charge with a range of 200 meters."

That leading warhead detonates the reactive armor, creating a clear path for the following warhead to penetrate in the normal manner [HEAT]!

One-shot, one-hit, one-kill, THROW AWAY! In combat, a buddy team would have a number of these weapons armed at a moment and ready to fire.

2. RPG-30. An even more advanced version of the RPG-27. Having that tandem round used to defeat reactive armor, but also having an additional "precursor" round added and used to further defeat the active protective systems [APS] as being added to Russian and "western" tanks and armor [Israeli, American]!

The RPG-30 was unveiled in 2008 . . . as a modern anti-tank grenade launcher designed to address the threat of reactive armor and active protection systems on tanks. Active protection systems (APS) such as ARENA-E, Drozd and Trophy . . . the RPG-30 is an intended response to the introduction of these systems.

"there is a smaller diameter precursor round in addition to the main round. This precursor acts as a false target spoofing the APS into engaging it and allowing the main round (following the precursor after a slight delay) a clear path to the target"

3. Anyone ever hear anything more about this? An incident from 2004. American Abrams tank in Iraq destroyed, evidently by a small plug of "yellow molten metal" [depleted uranium]? This was a penetrator of some sort? Perhaps part of an experimental RPG? A solid plug armor penetrator IN ADDITION TO THE CONVENTIONAL HEAT ROUND OF A RPG? I am just not sure! This was never satisfactorily explained!

"It seems clear that a penetrator of a yellow molten metal is what caused the damage, but what weapon fires such a round and precisely what sort of round is it?"

It is like Will Rogers said: "in every war they kill you in a new way".

coolbert.