RPO-A Shmel

The RPO-A Shmel' (Russian: реактивный пехотный огнемёт РПО-А «Шмель», lit. 'rocket-propelled infantry flamethrower "Bumblebee"') is a man-portable, single-use, rocket-assisted thermobaric weapon. Despite the literal translation referring to the weapon as a flamethrower, it does not produce a jet of burning liquid - it is in fact an unguided rocket launcher that fires rounds that explode into a cloud of very hot gases. The Shmel is designed, produced and exported by the Russian Federation and previously by the Soviet Union. It entered service with the Soviet Armed Forces at the end of the 1980s as the successor for the RPO Rys. Description The RPO-A is a single-shot, self-contained tube shaped launcher that operates much like the LAW anti-tank launcher, a sealed tube, carried in a man-pack in pairs. The same person can remove the tube, place it in firing position, and launch the...