Editing Rocket-propelled grenade (section)

==History==
===Predecessor weapons===
{{Main|Anti-tank weapons}}
The static nature of [[trench warfare]] in [[World War I]] encouraged the use of shielded defenses, even including personal armor, that were impenetrable by standard rifle ammunition. This led to some isolated experiments with higher caliber rifles, similar to [[elephant gun]]s, using [[armor-piercing ammunition]]. The first [[tank]]s, the British [[Mark I tank|Mark I]], could be penetrated by these weapons under the right conditions. [[Mark IV tank]]s, however, had slightly thicker armor. In response, the Germans rushed to create an upgraded version of these early anti-armor rifles, the [[Tankgewehr M1918]], the first [[anti-tank rifle]]. In the [[inter-war years]], tank armor continued to increase overall, to the point that anti-tank rifles could no longer be effective against anything but [[light tank]]s; any rifle made powerful enough for heavier tanks would exceed the ability of a soldier to carry and fire the weapon.

Even with the first tanks, artillery officers often used [[field gun]]s depressed to fire directly at armored targets. However, this practice expended much valuable ammunition and was of increasingly limited effectiveness as tank armor became thicker.<ref name=Norris/> This led to the concept of [[anti-tank guns]], a form of [[artillery]] specifically designed to destroy [[armored fighting vehicles]], normally from static defensive positions (that is, immobile during a battle).<ref>Oxford Advanced Lerner's Dictionary of Current English, New Edition, Cornelsen & Oxford, A S Hornby, 5th edition, p. 42.</ref><ref name=Norris>{{cite book|last=Norris|first=John|title=Brassey's Modern Military Equipment: Anti-tank weapons|date=1997|pages=7–21|publisher=Brasseys UK Ltd|location=London|isbn=978-1857531770}}</ref>

The first dedicated [[anti-tank artillery]] began appearing in the 1920s, and by [[World War II]] was a common appearance in most armies.<ref name=Gander>{{cite book |last1=Gander |first1=Terry |last2=Chamberlain |first2=Peter |title=World War II Fact Files: Anti-tank Weapons |date=1974 |pages=1–6 |publisher=Arco Publishing Company, Incorporated |location=New York |isbn=978-0668036078}}</ref> In order to penetrate armor they fired specialized ammunition from proportionally longer barrels to achieve a higher muzzle velocity than field guns.<ref>Militärisches Studienglosar Englisch Teil II/ Teil III, Deutsch – Englisch, Abkürzung Begriff, Bundessprachenamt (Stand Januar 2001), p. 283, anti-tank ammunition.</ref> Most anti-tank guns were developed in the 1930s as improvements in tanks were noted,<ref name=Rottman>{{cite book |last=Rottman |first=Gordon |title=World War II Infantry Anti-Tank Tactics |date=2005 |pages=15–17 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1841768427}}</ref> and nearly every major arms manufacturer produced one type or another.<ref name=Gander/>

Anti-tank guns deployed during World War II were manned by specialist infantry rather than artillery crews, and issued to infantry units accordingly.<ref name=Rottman/> The anti-tank guns of the 1930s were of small caliber; nearly all major armies possessing them used {{convert|37|mm|abbr=on}} ammunition, except for the [[British Army]], which had developed the {{convert|40|mm|abbr=on}} [[Ordnance QF 2-pounder]].<ref name=Norris/> As World War II progressed, the appearance of heavier tanks rendered these weapons obsolete and anti-tank guns likewise began firing larger calibre and more effective armor-piercing shells.<ref name=Gander/> Although a number of large caliber guns were developed during the war that were capable of knocking out the most heavily armored tanks, they proved slow to set up and difficult to conceal.<ref name=Gander/> The latter generation of low-recoil anti-tank weapons, which allowed projectiles the size of an artillery shell to be fired from a man's shoulder, was considered a far more viable option for arming infantrymen.<ref name=Rottman/>

===First shaped charge, portable weapons===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-672-7634-13, Russland, Luftwaffensoldat mit Panzerabwehrwaffe.jpg|thumb|left|A Luftwaffe soldier using a [[Panzerfaust]], a forerunner of modern-day RPGs]]
[[File:Nvarpgteam.jpg|thumbnail|right|A North Vietnamese soldier using a Soviet made [[RPG-2]] ]]

The RPG has its roots in the 20th century with the early development of the explosive [[shaped charge]], in which the explosive is made with a conical hollow,{{sfn|Connor|1987|page=47}} which concentrates its power on the impact point. Before the adoption of the shaped charge, [[anti-tank gun]]s and [[tank gun]]s relied primarily on [[kinetic energy]] of metal projectiles to defeat armor. Soldier-carried anti-tank rifles such as the [[Boys anti-tank rifle]] could be used against lightly-armored tankettes and light armored vehicles. However, as tank armor increased in thickness and effectiveness, the anti-tank guns needed to defeat them became increasingly heavy, cumbersome and expensive. During WW II, as tank armor got thicker, larger calibre anti-tank guns were developed to defeat this thicker armor.

While larger anti-tank guns were more effective, the weight of these anti-tank guns meant that they increasingly were mounted on wheeled, towed platforms. This meant that if the infantry was on foot, they might not have access to these wheeled, vehicle-towed anti-tank guns. This led to situations where infantry could find themselves defenseless against tanks and unable to attack tanks. Armies found that they needed to give infantry a human-portable (i.e., can be carried by one soldier) weapon to defeat enemy armor when no wheeled anti-tank guns were available, since [[Anti-tank rifle|anti tank rifles]] were no longer effective. Initial attempts to put such weapons in the hands of the infantry resulted in weapons like the Soviet [[RPG-40]] "blast effect" hand grenade (where "RPG" stood for ''ruchnaya protivotankovaya granata'', meaning hand-held anti-tank grenade). However, being hand thrown weapons, they still had to be deployed at suicidally close range to be effective. What was needed was a means of delivering the shaped charge warhead from a distance. Different approaches to this goal would lead to the anti-tank [[spigot mortar]], the [[recoilless rifle]], and, from the development of practical [[rocket]]ry, the RPG.

Research occasioned by [[World War II]] produced such weapons as the American [[bazooka]], British/Allied [[PIAT]] and German [[Panzerfaust]], which combined portability with effectiveness against armored vehicles, such as tanks. The [[Soviet Union|Soviet]]-developed [[RPG-7]] is the most widely distributed, recognizable and used RPG in the world.{{cn|date=January 2025}} The basic design of this RPG was developed by the Soviets shortly after [[World War II]] in the form of the [[RPG-2]], which is similar in function to the Bazooka (due to the reloadability) and the Panzerfaust (due to an oversized grenade that protrudes outside of a smaller launch tube and the recoilless launch), though the rounds it fires lack a form of propulsion in addition to the launch charge (unlike the RPG-7 rounds, which also feature a sustainer motor, effectively making the rounds rocket propelled grenades).
[[File:Mongolian soldier with RPG in 2005.jpg|thumb|A Mongolian soldier showing an unloaded RPG launcher to a group of [[United States Marine Corps|US marines]]]]

Soviet RPGs were used extensively during the [[Vietnam War]] (by the [[Vietnam People's Army]] and [[Vietcong]]),<ref name="mrfa"/> as well as during the [[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]]. In the 2000s, they were still being used widely in conflict areas such as [[Chechnya]], [[Iraq]], and [[Sri Lanka]].{{citation needed|date=May 2014}} Militants have also used RPGs against helicopters: [[Taliban]] fighters shot down U.S. CH-47 Chinook helicopters in June 2005 and August 2011; and [[Somalia|Somali]] militiamen shot down two U.S. [[UH-60 Black Hawk]] helicopters during the [[Battle of Mogadishu (1993)|Battle of Mogadishu]] in 1993.

RPGs were used by militants to destroy "hundreds" of vehicles (AFVs, armored Humvees etc) in the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)]].{{sfn|Rottman|2010|p=43}}