Re: [GZG] Fun with RPGs - Re: Slightly OT - Hypothetical weapon question

On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 4:38 AM, Michael R. Blair <pellinoire@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> The IRA fired RPG-7s on occasion at police stations. One case I
remember was a warhead that went through at least one brick wall and
probably a security screen as well and failed to detonate. Of course it
might have been a dud – I doubt if storage had been ideal, it might
have been past its sell by date or it might have been a cheap copy and
the end user may well have messed up – the IRA always seemed a more
professional terrorist organisation (rather like saying a more efficient
cancer) than their protestant equivalents but even they must have had
their share of muppets.

A substantial proportion of the RPGs I got a good look at in Iraq
still had the safety pins in the warhead.  Others just failed to
detonate.  It's manufactured by Russians under Soviet-era quality
control, and those are the "good" RPGs.  You might have one made by
Chinese slave labor or worse.

> Then of course there seems to be that trick from Afghanistan that made
them useable as a crude form of anti-aircraft weapon. Was that trick
previously covered on this list or another

What trick, pointing them in the air, launching a lot of them, and
praying to Allah while really relying on the fact that with enough
launches SOMEONE will get lucky?

>one? I think what impressed me the most was the account from Grozney of
them being used like artillery – a barrage of them being fired at a
very high angle to land in another street if I understand it correctly.
Human ingenuity, especially when looking for ways to kill other humans,
is astounding.

It's just a rocket.  122mm and 107mm rockets are sometimes hooked up
to car batteries, laid against a dirt berm, and launched at US
installations.	 If you know the characteristics of your rocket, it's
a fairly simple problem to get a rough angle to launch them at.  It's
not precise by any means, but it is "good enough" if you aren't
worried about precision.

John
-- 
"Thousands of Sarmatians, Thousands of Franks, we've slain them again
and again.  We're looking for thousands of Persians."
--Vita Aureliani
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