Rocket-propelled Grenade - Tactics

Tactics

RPGs were used extensively during the Vietnam War (by the Vietnam People's Army and Vietcong), Soviet invasion of Afghanistan by the Mujahideen and against South Africans in Angola and Namibia (formerly South West Africa) by SWAPO guerillas during what the South Africans called the South African Border War. Twenty years later, they are still being used widely in recent conflict areas such as Chechnya, Iraq, and Sri Lanka.

One of the first instances when it was used by militants was on 13 January 1975 at the Orly airport in France, when Carlos the Jackal, together with another member from the PFLP, used two Soviet RPG-7 grenades to attack an Israeli El Al airliner. Both missed, and one of them hit a DC-9 of Yugoslav Airlines instead.

RPGs can also be used to achieve a mobility kill, because no matter how thick the tank's armor is, its tracks remain the weakest components. If there is no covering fire, the tank may be destroyed easily as it unable to move to protect itself. However, if recovered, the tank can easily be repaired and ready for action.

Due to the lack of a guidance system in the RPG rockets, the operator must fire relatively close to the intended target, increasing the chances of being spotted. Most modern armies deploy anti tank guided missiles (ATGM) as their primary infantry anti-tank weapon, but the RPG still remains a potent threat to armored vehicles, especially in situations such as urban warfare or jungle warfare, where they are favored by guerrillas. They are most effective when used in restricted terrain as the availability of cover and concealment can make it difficult for the intended target to spot the RPG operator. Note that this concealment is often preferably outdoors, because firing an RPG within an enclosed area may create a dangerous backblast.

When deployed against personnel, the warhead can be aimed at a solid surface to detonate; popular choices being trees or buildings. Another option is an indirect method of firing the warhead over the intended target area at ranges of 800–1000 m where the warhead would detonate automatically. More skilled shooters can use the RPG self-destruct feature to make it explode over the enemy at closer range.

Although they can be—and often are—used against hovering helicopters, they should not be confused with anti-aircraft shoulder fired surface-to-air missile (MANPADS) such as the Stinger or SA-7 Grail/SA-14. MANPADS are capable of actively tracking the target as opposed to flying in a ballistic trajectory as the unguided RPG-missiles do; allowing kills at high altitude (which are too far to be hit by an unguided projectile). Furthermore, firing at steep angles poses a danger to the user, because the backblast from firing reflects off the ground. In Somalia, militia members sometimes welded a steel plate in the exhaust end of an RPG's tube to deflect pressure away from the shooter when shooting up at US helicopters. RPGs are used in this role only when more effective weapons are not available.