Modern Anti-Tank Rockets Of Russia: RPG-29, RPG-30, RPG-27, RPG-18, RPG-32, RPG-28, RPG-16, RPG-22, RPG-26

Excerpt: The RPG-29 Vampir (Vampire) is a Soviet man portable, shoulder fired Rocket propelled grenade launcher. Developed during the 1980s, it is still capable of defeating the armor of many modern tanks. The RPG-29 is a shoulder-launched, tube-style, single-shot, reloadable, anti-tank rocket launcher designed to be carried and used by a single soldier. On the top of the launch tube is the x 2.7 1P38 optical sight. On the bottom of the tube is a shoulder brace for proper positioning along with a pistol grip trigger mechanism. A 1PN51-2 night sight can be fitted. Two projectiles are available for the weapon; the PG-29V anti-tank/anti-bunker round and the TBG-29V thermobaric anti-personnel round. The PG-29V round has a tandem-charge HEAT warhead for defeating explosive reactive armor (ERA). Eight fins deploy as the rocket leaves the launch tube to stabilize the rocket during flight. The warhead is extremely powerful; in tests conducted against T-80 and T-90 tanks, it penetrated the tanks over their frontal arcs, despite the reactive armor and the already thick hull. The RPG-29 entered service with the Soviet army in 1989. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz stated that the RPG-29 was a major source of IDF casualties in the 2006 Lebanon War although a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry denied that Russia had supplied arms directly to Hezbollah. Kommersant magazine acknowledged through anonymous sources the possibility of a weapons transfer between Syria and Hezbollah during the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. In 2007, British officials confirmed that an RPG-29 round penetrated the frontal ERA and hull of a Challenger 2 tank during an engagement in al-Amarah, Iraq, wounding a crew member. In May 2008, The New York Times disclosed that an American M1 t... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1180103