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RPG-6 (РПГ-6)
Type Anti-tank grenade
Place of origin Soviet Union
Service history
In service October 1943 -
Used by Soviet Union and Warsaw pact countries
Wars World War II
Weight 1.1 kg
Length 337 mm
Diameter 103 mm

Filling TNT shaped charge
Filling weight 0.57 kg
Impact fuze

The RPG-6 was a Soviet anti-tank hand-grenade (RPG was the Russian designation, not the more usual abbreviation of "rocket-propelled grenade") operating on the shaped charge principle, developed during World War II. It underwent testing in September 1943, and was accepted into service in October of the same year.

It was a conical casing enclosing a shaped charge and containing 562 grams of 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 as well as tanks.


The RPG-6 was designed as a replacement for the RPG-43. 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 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 the impact fuse in it, so that when the weapon detonated the warhead was at the optimum distance from the armour. The weapon was a success and went into mass production, being used alongside the RPG-43 in many countries long after the war.


See also[edit]