Editing Rocket-propelled grenade (section)

===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}}