RPG-6

The RPG-6 (Russian >Ruchnaya Protivotankovaya Granata, "Handheld Anti-Tank Grenade") was a Soviet-era anti-tank hand-grenade used during the late World War Two and early Cold War period. (RPG was the Russian designation, not the more usual abbreviation of "rocket-propelled grenade"). It operated on the "Monroe effect" principle, in which a metal-lined cone-shaped explosive charge would generate a focused jet of hot metal that could burn through armor-plate. It underwent testing in September 1943, and was accepted into service in October of the same year.

It was a conical casing enclosing a shaped charge and containing 562 grams of TNT, fitted with a percussion fuse and four cloth ribbons to provide stability in flight after throwing. It could penetrate approximately 100 millimeters of armour. The RPG-6 had a fragmentation radius of 20 metres from the point of detonation, and proved useful against infantry as well as tanks.

History

The RPG-6 was designed as a replacement for the RPG-43. The RPG-43 had a large warhead, but was designed to detonate in contact with a tank's armour; it was later found that optimal performance was gained from a HEAT warhead if it exploded a short distance from the armour, roughly the same distance as the weapon's diameter. In the RPG-6 this was achieved by adding a hollow pointed nose section with the impact fuse in it, so that when the weapon detonated the warhead was at the optimum distance from the armour. The weapon was a success and went into mass production, being used alongside the RPG-43 in many countries long after the war. In 1944 were given to the troops the BRPG-44 (lecterally "handle anti-tank grenade thrower), a gun/mortar able to throw the RPG-6 to 220 m (at 150 m with good precision).