RPG-6

RPG-6 (РПГ-6)
Type	Anti-tank grenade
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	October 1943 -
Used by	Soviet Union and Warsaw pact countries
Wars	World War II
Specifications
Mass	1.1 kg
Length	337 mm
Diameter	103 mm
Filling	TNT shaped charge
Filling weight	0.57 kg
Detonation mechanism	Impact fuze

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).

See also

• List of Russian weaponry