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| International |
| The Versatile, Infamous RPG-7 |
| 2003-07-10 |
| Severely edited--a must-read, though. The RPG-7 has a rudimentary sighting mechanism, and is basically "point and shoot." You can be trained to use an RPG-7 in minutes. Anyone who is already a good shot with a rifle, can become quite accurate with an RPG-7 after firing a few rounds. After a few dozen rounds, amazing feats of accuracy can be achieved. For example, Afghans were able to use RPGs against the reactive armor on Russian armored vehicles by firing one RPG to detonate the reactive armor (blocks of explosives mounted on an armored vehicle, which exploded when hit by an RPG, thus destroying the armor penetrating effect of the RPG.) But once a section of reactive armor had exploded, it left that portion of the vehicle unprotected. Another RPG gunner would immediately fire another rocket and hit that spot (about the size of a window), thus penetrating the vehicles armor and destroying it. These tactics were used when the RPG gunners were within 50 meters of the vehicle being attacked. Still, it was a remarkably effective tactic that was used many times. Tanks were often immune to RPG rockets, at least their front armor. So the RPG gunners would either try for a rear shot, or hit the vision blocks for the driver, gunner and commander. Thus blinded, the RPG gunners could maneuver for a kill. Naturally, the Russians tried to protect their tanks and armored vehicles with infantry. But when an RPG rocket hit, it killed or injured most people within 10-15 feet of the explosion. Thus the Afghans would fire barrages of six or more RPG rockets at a Russian tank, to incapacitate or drive away the infantry so the vehicle could be taken out. It was the Afghans who first figured out how vulnerable tanks are to RPG shots at their rear end. Go read the full article! |
| Posted by:Dar |
| #3 It's also worth noting that those "impressive Afghan RPG tactics" haven't been very effective against the U.S. Supposedly we're being hit with 13 attacks a day since May 1 (granted not all of them with RPGs), and we've lost 25 killed. There's defintely not anything like the effectiveness that was achieved against the Soviets. |
| Posted by: Ralph 2003-7-10 6:54:50 PM |
| #2 see: http://www.g2mil.com/RPG.htm dorf |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-7-10 4:54:49 PM |
| #1 It was the Afghans who first figured out how vulnerable tanks are to RPG shots at their rear end. That's got to be wrong. Infantry from every army in the world know that tank armor is thinner around the sides, in the rear and on top. Most of the lessons regarding the limitations of anti-tank weapons vs tank frontal armor were learnt in WWII. US bazooka rounds, in particular, had a way of bouncing off the frontal armor of Tiger tanks. The same thing happened with GI's facing North Korean T-34's in the Korean War. The Afghan mujahideen received coaching from the Pakistanis and reputedly from the British SAS, as well. They may have learnt anti-armor techniques on their own, but I suspect formal training had something to do with the methods they employed against the Russians. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-7-10 4:54:31 PM |