Thanks for watching, check out the accompanying article for this video at - armourersbench.com/2022/10/23/rpg-30-russias-dual-tube-rocket-launcher/ If you enjoy the videos please consider supporting TAB via - www.patreon.com/thearmourersbench thanks! - Matt

There's confusion with some commenters about what the RPG-30 is trying to do. The first small inert projectile causes Active Protection Systems (APS) to deploy, which currently are small counter-bombs fired automatically by the system at the incoming 'threat' .... they currently take a couple of seconds to reset. Therefore, the APS wastes itself on the first projectile, which only has to be vaguely on target. The second main tandem-warhead projectile can't be intercepted in time and gets to hit the tank. Its tandem mini warhead on the front of the main projectile will probably cause the explosive reactive armour (ERA) panel struck to prematurely detonate, due to the stand-off distance in front of the main charge. This then clears the way for the main warhead to hit the now-bare section of the tank and penetrate the armour. If, like most Western tanks there's no ERA, the first warhead still helps penetration by weakening the armour for the main charge. The two separate projectiles fired one after the other don't have to hit the same spot. The second main projectile has two tandem warheads, a baby one, and a phat daddy one. These three elements work together, one after the other to overcome the tank's defences. It's an imperfect (heavy, requires steady aiming) but pragmatically simple solution to the very effective measures being fielded by the latest tanks. Powerful tandem warheads are shown in modern warfare to be able to defeat ERA equipped tanks. The very new problem for tank hunters is APS. The RPG-30 is literally the first mass-produced cheap man-portable weapon that's come up with a way of overcoming this new defensive measure. The rocks paper scissors of armoured warfare continues to evolve.

my dad looked forward to these and so did i its just me watching after the tenth of october now my dad doesnt hurt anymore

the tandem charge on the main projectile is to defeat reactive armour, the lead projectile is for active defense systems.

It’s weird that the rpg-29 has yet to make an appearance in this war. I know they didn’t widely adopt it but you’d still think it would pop up by now.

Its not the same since the RPG-7. No other boom-boom will have such a good shape in both launcher and ammo.

Lots of interest RPG variants, really interesting stuff hope to see more of them in this channel

Thanks for the great footage and detailed analysis. 👏🏻

I knew exactly what that skinnier tube was for the moment you mentioned it was designed to thwart reactive armor. I sure would love to see cutaways of both warheads.

Very interesting presentation thanks for sharing. Cheers.

The final segment shows engagements to about 200 metres maybe? The flight time is 2.5 seconds, or thereabouts. So the muzzle velocity, assuming it's not rocket assisted in flight would be about 150-200m/s perhaps? Slowing over distance. Typical pragmatically clever Russian design, but definitely best used against staionary or very slowly moving targets at short range. Sort of like a 21st century Russian take on the WW2 German panzerfaust. Thank you for this video, nicely presented.

I may be wrong here but it appears that the precursor missiles recoil can actually fuck up the centre of aim for the main missile.

very informative! thank you.

I am very impressed by how little recoil it has 4:24

Great video! But the soldier at 2:10 is posing with a RShG-1, not a RPG-30.

It was for sure a useful topic to cover 😀

I remember a photo of a destroyed Ukrainian btr4 from the early months of the war, supposedly hit by rpg30 after it tried to ambush a Russian convoy

Good vid Mate!

So...the big "secret" is using it as a AT double barreled weapon, firing two projectiles instead of one. Jeeez... :D

Excellent report! Keep up the great work!!

This is something that makes sense in theory, but in practice, I doubt the precursor works as intended. Unless you are firing from a mounted position at a stationary target. There is no way you would ever be able to land both rounds in the same spot.

In terms of the amount of time, money, and effort spent to implement effective APS’s, this RPG 30 system is a rather crudely ingenious counter that the Russians came up with for what I imagine is much less in every one of those categories. Still, you can only go so far with those kind of limitations (even if, let’s say, those weapon systems don’t end up malfunctioning more often than not). The biggest one that comes to mind is the lack of accuracy and therefore range resulting from the recoil of the first shot. Watching the footage of it being fired, there is a small amount of recoil coming from the decoy that causes some muzzle rise. While it may look like the muzzle settles back in time for the main round to fire again, any miniscule drift from the initial aiming point can result in several to many feet of inaccuracy downrange. This effectively could “half” the size of the effective target. If this had been a NATO developed system, I imagine there would be much more investment into addressing this problem by creating a guided munition for the tandem warhead, akin to a missile rather than a rocket. Not completely dismissing this to be a possibility with the RPG 30, but as of now there hasn’t been any evidence indicating as such.

Very good - Thanks ! ! ! 🙂😎👍

That was interesting. Thanks.

4:04 that sweet zenitCo stock! Maybe u should do a vid on the zenit gear being used by both sides or an ak12 vs ak74 w/zenit? Up2u, be interesting

Really cool upload! Thank you! Greetings, Jeff

Thanks

Great job sir

Curious how well a person keeps on target after the decoy shot goes out before the warhead does. Recoils looks light from the video but even a slight recoil or jolt will throw your aim off.

Would you have to be extremely still or would it be to sudden of a recoil to matter, the delay seems prone to human fuckery

Interesting video...Thanks.

That’s a unique audio signature.

im curious about how recoil from the smaller inert projectile impacts the accuracy of the main shot, i suspect it would make it useless at longer ranges.

It clearly has a very distinct sound when fired.

A clever layout but I feel like there could be issues with the user flinching in-between the first tube firing and the second and thus throwing off their aim.

The precursor rocket is to engage active defense systems, leaving a window of vulnerability for the main rocket. The tandem charge of the main rocket defeats ERA by detonating two warheads in tandem, the first activates the ERA, the second larger charge then has a free path to defeat the armor similar to the PG-7VR rocket fired by the RPG-7. This is all easy to find info.

Depending on how modern the ERA is, im guessing that "decoy" round would do next to nothing to activate an explosive panel. You can hammer a lot of those panel and they wont go off.

I doubt the precursor round is there to defeat ERA, it's there to overcome any APS. But if you are using it against a target that lacks APS then the precursor does not add anything, it just makes it bulkier to carry and harder to shoot. So the effect against ERA sounds more like a sales pitch in a world where APS is still a very rare sight..

At 2:56 one of the RPGs appears to be a different variant? It has a much larger precursor tube.

i can see the double"barel" system implented on old swedish 90 mm recoiless cannons -it would make them viable

What is the smaller rocket for?

Dude tis video blew up! Congrats on the momentum let’s see what you do with it.

Brilliant Design 👍

What's the point of the decoy projectile when you already have an anti-era tandem Warhead in the tube?

very interesting I could see this being very effective

Up until about 6 minutes ago I didn’t know this thing existed. I wonder if it’s actually effective against APS.

Good video. Thank you.

I’m curious as to it’s accuracy for a moving target. I don’t think the two warheads will hit the same target area to be effective against ERA. The two rounds could prove devastating against non armored targets.

Thank u ❤

Should have let me know you were doing this video. I have a couple of these. I'll send you photos later

Clever way to deal with active protection system.

Does it have "soft launch"? It doesn't have much signature or back-blast.

Wouldnt the first rocket disrupt your sight picture? or is there no recoil from the first rocket

Never knew this existed seems cool and effective like a better AT4

That is very cool

in the rpg 30 s main rounds tip has an micro cute shaped charge and an mini shaped charge rocket

I wish this video had a little chart comparing the range and penetration to the RPG-18, AT-4, or LAW systems. Also, maybe the names of some tanks it could penetrate. This would allow people to actually understand the capability of what this thing can do.

I'd be worried about that smaller projectile throwing aim off for the main rocket. Wonder how effective these are at range.

How does an inert rocket trigger the outer layers of an ERA block?

There is a video at some defense conference and a former soviet commander and expert discussed a bunch of kit the current Russian military has. He mentioned the rpg30 and mentioned interestingly that the smaller precursor rocket is NOT inert but performs some kind of jamming function to active protection systems.

great vid

Almost thought the thinner tube was somekind of spotting rifle aparatus

Interested consept i can tell that the dummy round throws you off of target before the actual round is fired

The Merkava is the first thing that came to mind when I watched this video. Abrams did not have APS until very recently. So its' strange they would make this weapons. If Russia starts exporting this sh!t to HAMAS, IDF will have problems.

I thought the secondary tube was for a spotting round when i saw the thumbnail

Reminds me of the old LAWS but with some upgrades.

It seems like it would not be very effective the further distance from the target since the projectiles would probably separate the longer in flight.

I wonder how practically the main round would actually hit the same spot. I have a feeling in many cases it would end up activating additional ERA plates.

against reactive armor, if the decoy precursor rocket is inert, won't that just bounce off and not set off the reactive armor? it could set off any active measures meant to destroy the rocket before actual contact with the tank I guess.

Can the operator switch to rocket or decoy?

If the first charge is inert, how does it set off explosive reactive armor? Even if it could the two are offset and incabable of hitting same spot. It cant, it must just be for APS

Firing the precursor and the main charge in short delay against a target that does not have APS is less then ideal for many reasons, the main one being that the inert precursor will not defeat any ERA. Given the low muzzle velocity and limited effective range of this weapon it would make sense to be able to use the ballistically matched precursor as a ranging shot. That way it could still be usefull regardless if the target has APS or not? So one possible improvement could be adding three different firing modes.The first mode would be the current configuration against targets with APS. The second mode would just fire the precursor to verify aim/distance. The third would only fire the main charge.

Ive seen a video of 3 of these miss one (a Bradley I think) vehicle. two fell short and one missed high.

Nice

I would not want to get hit by this thing. This thing looks like a terrifying weapon.

0:28 'fin and spin stabilised'? this must be wrong, right?

Idk what you say, 650mm after ERA is insane for a 10kg AT system

If the first rocket is a decoy and is inert how would it expend there era?

With that delay between the two rockets firing, and the inherent accuracy in a rocket propelled projectile, I seriously wonder how accurately both projectiles can hit the same spot at any realistic distances...

It's weird they'd go through the expensive effort of making the dope little decoy against ERA but to then cheap out and give it terrible iron sights is a weird one to me. Are simple optics really that cost prohibitive? I mean I've heard so many reports on how the NLAWs optics turn it to a powerhouse it just seems weird to cheap out there ya know.

good idea for precursor....

US: ah shit i missed! *proceeds to reload the M3E1*

This would be the perfect counter to Trophy APS

¿Neta este lanzacohetes podrá ser efectivo contra tanques que cuenten con sistema Trophy APS? 🤔

I'd kinda expect the launch of the decoy to throw the aim of the main projectile, maybe at that range it doesn't matter too much.

i dont thinks the two rockets even land on the same spot and the ERA bricks are not that big. Could be that the first rocket hits the ERA and the other rocket hits the ERA a little more up because of the "recoil"

It's certainly a cool, simple system. I'm not sure how much use it would be in combat against modern heavy armoured vehicles like tanks given the range and all-weather precision of such assets but in an ambush situation or against an unsophisticated force, I'm sure it is potentially deadly. Besides, lightly armoured vehicles probably wouldn't want to get hit by this thing! It looks kind of like it's the Russian version of an AT-4. The recoil might be a hindrance but I'd guess that soldiers would prefer to have this, then to have no effective anti armour weapon. Edit: grammar

My god, it seems like you gotta be able to suck the damn muffler of the tank before your in range to fire. In those training shots that’s like 150 meters or less...

Nice, would lobe to have one or 2000

Only thing people dont mention is how on earth are you going to hit the same spot in the armor at 200 meters away. You can clearly see that the tube moves a bit between the shots, so likelly the first rocket will hit a bit lower than the second one, hence not hitting the spot where reactive armor was already detonated. If the rockets were guided to hit the same spot, that would make sense, but I believe the current design would only make sense at a very close range. Anyway, time as always will tell if the design is effective or not. If we start to see other countries copying the design, we can see that it worked.

Surely the point of a tandem HEAT warhead is to do the ERA thwarting ? And how on Earth do they align those barrels accurately enough to get the decoy rocket to hit the same place the main rocket will hit?!?

Several years back, I had found a website by a russian tank man, named Vassily Fofanov, dedicated as one would expect to Russian tanks. Somewhere in his page, for a short period of time he published the results of some anti-tank weapon tests that the Russian army had conducted, shooting against a T-80 tank. (I don't remember the variant or even if it was mentioned in the first place). The tests included a number of shots (no more than 8 for each) by: - RPG-7 -125mm gun with APFSDS rounds - RPG-29 The shots were fired at the frontal armor of the tank. The results really stupefied me because about half the APFSDS rounds of the 125mm gun penetrated, only one RPG-7 round managed to do some damage and (here is the surprise) all but one of the rounds of RPG-29 shot at the tank managed to penetrate. The fact that a portable RPG proved more effective than a 125mm round is (to me at least) astounding.

i want one of this in a post apoclyptic world, it looks petty mobile.

If the smaller barrel rocket is meant to defeat ERA, it definitely isn't gonna be inert. ERA is very stable, it requires explosives to set it off. It wouldn't explode just by being penetrated.

Pretty frikkin cool

Interesting design.

Damn, how do they keep coming up with so many RPG versions?

This is just like the M-72 LAW used in vietnam. LZ Oasis.

So why the heck doesnt it have any sights, electronic or optic? That greatly limits the potential range and use at night.

an rpg-7 can over come active protection. you just need 2 guys each with one and the second guy fires as fast as he can when he realizes the first guy had fired.