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RPG fuze from PG-7V HEAT Rocket.

ron3350

Well-Known Member
I know nothing about RPG's but this looks like a Chinese fuze that came with a Type PG-7V HEAT rocket that was repainted black and showed green paint inside the stem. 40mm body. 85mm head.

I show the inerted fuze that has the red paint and raised Chinese? letters on the magnetic fuze cover.
There are no other markings. It has a wire safety to keep the cap on.

I am not sure which way is up for the writing but I hope somebody can translate for me. Thanks. Ron.

RPG b.jpgRPG a.jpgRPG c.jpgRPG d.jpg
 
Very interesting, as you don’t often get to see one that close. This, as every time it seems that one’s found in a cache, etc., they just blow them all up without taking any detailed photos.

The nose sensor you show, presumed piezoelectric-based, wouldn’t be for the Russian PG-7 projectile assembly by the way (it's not PG-7V, see later text), it would be for the Chinese model. Due to its shape, it's likely for the Type 69-I (Type 69-1) and not the Type 69. As far as I’m aware, the Chinese Type 69 is a straight clone of the PG-7, and as such it would use a clone of the VP-7 fuzing system (see later text). In comparison to the Type 69, the Type 69-I uses a modified fuzing system, which is referred to in some US documentation as the MD2. As I can’t read the Chinese text of the fuze, I don’t know its Chinese designation.

As you said you don’t know much about RPGs, here’s a little bit of help.

Right, just to start with, there’s no PG-7V (ПГ-7В) HEAT rocket (see PS). Firstly as that’s the designation of the complete round of ammunition. Secondly as it’s a round for the RPG-7 recoilless gun, a round that has a rocket-boosted projectile that is first fired from the RPG-7 gun (launcher) using a propulsion or expelling propellant charge that operates on the recoilless gun principle. The RPG-7 doesn’t fire rockets, it fires either rocket-boosted projectiles, or just projectiles (i.e. the OG-7V (ОГ-7В) round and its OG-7 (ОГ-7) projectile.

Right, the PG-7V is made up of the PG-7 (ПГ-7) grenade (projectile assembly) and the PG-7P (ПГ-7П) propulsion charge and stabiliser assembly. The PG-7 is made up of the VP-7 (ВП-7) fuzing system, the PG-7G (ПГ-7Г) warhead, and the PG-7D (ПГ-7Д) rocket motor. It’s the only one of the RPG-7 projectiles that has separate codes for its warhead and rocket motor assemblies. This has led to some calling the PG-7G an entirely different round/projectile (US DoD included). The VP-7 fuzing system is made up of the VP-7GSh (ВП-7ГЧ) piezoelectric nose sensor and the VP-7DCh (ВП–7ДЧ) base element (safe and arm device, aka SAD, which is called a PIM [ПИМ] in Russian).

For note, the RPG acronym-part of RPG-7 (also RPG-1, RPG-2, RPG-4, RPG-16, RPG-29, and RPG-32) does not mean ‘rocket propelled grenade’, it means ‘hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher’. Even with the other Russian RPG-designated weapons (i.e. RPG-18, RPG-22, RPG-26, RPG-27, RPG-28, and RPG-30) that only fire projectiles that are powered by a rocket motor in-bore (so really rockets in this case), the designation RPG doesn’t mean ‘Rocket Propelled Grenade’, it actually means ‘Reactive (i.e. Rocket) Anti-Tank Grenade. The term ‘Rocket Propelled Grenade’ is simply a Western misnomer.

PS I’m going to get stick for this, but I classify ammunition by the type of weapon that fires it, so its projection method. As such I don’t classify the RPG-7’s recoilless gun principle-fired rocket-boosted ammunition, or any other rocket-boosted ammunition that is not rocket-propelled within the bore, as a rocket. I classify these as rocket-assisted projectiles (RAP).
 
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