RPG-6
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox weapon
|name=RPG-6 (РПГ-6)
|image= RPG-6.png
|image_size = 200
|caption=
|origin=Soviet Union
|type=Anti-tank grenadeСемен Федосеев. Против танка // журнал "Оружие", № 2, 2000. стр.59-63
|is_ranged=yes
|is_explosive=yes
|service=October 1943 –
|used_by=Soviet Union and Warsaw pact countries
|wars=World War II
|designer= M. Z. Polevikov
L. B. Ioffe
N. S. Zhitkikh
|manufacturer=
|unit_cost=
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|number=
|variants=
|spec_label=
|length=337 mm
|part_length=
|width=
|height=
|diameter=103 mm
|crew=
|cartridge=
|caliber=
|action=
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|feed=
|sights=
|filling=TNT shaped charge
|yield=
}}
The RPG-6 (Russian Ruchnaya Protivotankovaya Granata, "Handheld Anti-Tank Grenade") was a Soviet-era anti-tank hand grenade used during the late World War II and early Cold War period. It was superseded by the RKG-3 anti-tank grenade.
History
The RPG-6 was designed as a replacement for the RPG-43 after the Battle of Kursk.
It underwent testing in September 1943, and was accepted into service in October 1943. First RPG-6 grenades were used against Axis troops in last week of October 1943.Оружие Победы / колл. авт., отв. ред. В. Н. Новиков. 2-е изд., пер. и доп. М., "Машиностроение", 1987. стр.427
The weapon was a success and went into mass production in late 1943. During the war, RPG-6 grenades being used alongside the RPG-43.
In the USSR, some grenades were kept in storage even after the end of the World War II.
Design
It operated on the shaped charge Munroe effect principle, in which a metal-lined cone-shaped explosive charge would generate a very high speed, focused jet of metal that could penetrate armor-plate.
It was a conical casing enclosing a shaped charge and containing 562 grams of trinitrotoluene (TNT), fitted with a percussion fuse and four cloth ribbons to provide stability in flight after throwing. It could penetrate approximately 100 millimeters of armour. The RPG-6 had a fragmentation radius of 20 metres from the point of detonation, and proved useful against infantry and tanks.
The RPG-43 had a large warhead, but was designed to detonate in contact with a tank's armour; it was later found that optimal performance was gained from a high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead if it exploded a short distance from the armour, roughly the same distance as the weapon's diameter. In the RPG-6 this was achieved by adding a hollow pointed nose section with an impact fuse in it, so that when the weapon detonated the warhead was at an optimum distance from the armour.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Soviet infantry weapons of World War II}}
Category:Hand grenades of the Soviet Union
Category:World War II infantry weapons of the Soviet Union
Category:Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1943
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