RPG-7/PSRL-1

History of the RPG-7/PSRL-1

During the second world war, the Soviet army got to see the success of the Panzerschreck, an anti-armor rocket launcher Germany made by reverse engineering and improving upon captured American M1 Bazookas, and the Panzerfaust a much lower cost and easier to manufacture single use anti-armor rocket launcher Germany changed to near the end of the war. Soviet designers took elements of both weapons and created the Ruchnoy Protivotankoviy Granatomet, when translated to English it means Hand-held Antitank Grenade Launcher.

The RPG-1 never went into production, its design was instead improved upon making the RPG-2 that went into production in the late 1940s, not seeing service until the mid-1950s, but by that time improvements to tank armor rendered the warhead mostly obsolete. Seeing these limitations, the Soviet designers continued making improvements until the RPG-7 was introduced in 1961. Going by the model number, it is assumed that RPG-3 through 6 were all prototypes or earlier versions that failed to meet expectations, but little is known about them. A brief search turned up very little on RPGs 3-6, though we will admit we didn't look very hard.

The RPG-7 has become one of the most famous and recognizable anti-tank rocket launchers ever produced, with numbers exceeding nine million. It has been in active duty for more than sixty years, used against tanks, APCs, buildings, fortifications and low flying helicopters. The RPG has been used in countless wars and still sees action today and is used by at least 50 countries. It is also being manufactured in other countries, some giving them unique designations like; America's - PSRL-1, or RPG-7USA, Bulgaria's - ATGL-L, China's - Type 69, Sudan's - Sinar, and Vietnam's - B-41.

Since its creation it has seen many improvements to its ammunition. The original PG-7V is effective against 10 inches of Rolled Homogeneous Armor. In 1977 the PG-7VL warhead was developed capable of penetrating 20 inches of Rolled Homogeneous Armor. In the late eighties, the PG-7VR was introduced with a tandem explosive to combat Explosive Reactive Armor, where the leading explosive sets off the ERA and the trailing warhead can then penetrate up to 24 inches of RHA. There is also a thermobaric projectile known as the TBG-7V.

There is also a variant known as the RPG-7D, it was designed to be carried by paratroopers and can be broken down into its major components for easier transport. The modern Russian Army uses a modernized version, know as the RPG-7V2, or the paratrooper version RPG-7D3.