Flamethrower "Bumblebee": the deadliest weapon of the infantry. RPO pdm-a "bumblebee-m", reactive infantry flamethrower

The hand-held infantry flamethrower (RPO) "Bumblebee" is the best weapon of its kind in the world, and a shot from it is equal in power to 122-mm ammunition. History of the creation and use of the flamethrower "Bumblebee".

RPO "Bumblebee" - a classic weapon for urban combat, to destroy the enemy, who has settled in pillboxes, to disable cars and lightly armored vehicles. Real hand artillery for the infantry. The baptism of fire took place in the mountains of Afghanistan, where it showed its effectiveness and received the nickname "shaitan-pipe" from the fighters. The forerunner of the Shmel family flamethrowers was the Lynx hand-held flamethrowers, which appeared in service with the battalions of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Forces (RHBZ) of the Soviet Army in 1976, as well as the "oldies" LPO-50 (a light infantry flamethrower of the 1950 model ). "Lynx" was developed in the Tula Instrument Design Bureau.

The flamethrower was created using the components and mechanisms of the RPG-16 hand-held rocket launcher, fired at 100 meters with an incendiary charge and was capable of destroying both buildings and engineering fortifications, as well as light armored vehicles. To ensure stability when firing, there was a bipedal bipod mounted in front of the launcher. In the design of the RPO "Lynx", the capsule-jet principle of flamethrowing was first implemented: a flamethrower shot assembled in a plastic container was a "packaged" jet placed in a capsule on which a solid-propellant jet engine was mounted. Bringing the flamethrower into combat position was carried out in just 60 seconds: a shot with three cap locks was fixed on the flamethrower body, after which the flamethrower pulled the trigger.

For the first time in the battle, "Lynx" began to use Soviet troops in Afghanistan. However, real combat operations showed a number of shortcomings of this weapon. With a length of almost one and a half meters, the flamethrower with additional charges weighed more than 20 kilograms, and the incendiary mixture was ineffective in rocky mountains. Not always the charges of the "Lynx" could set fire to the stone and adobe houses of local residents, who without problems withstood a volley of even several "Lynxes".

To replace the obsolete "Lynx" and LPO-50 in 1984, Soviet weapons developers received an order from the army for a new weapon. The range was supposed to be at least 500 meters. It also required more power with the ability to suppress well-fortified targets. At the same time, the device had to be made light. In practice, a hand cannon weighing ten kilograms was needed. As a result of work on this order, the Tula gunsmiths created the Bumblebee flamethrower, unique for that time. The designers paid great attention to generalizing the unsuccessful Afghan experience in using the Lynxes and decided to make the Bumblebee disposable and light enough to make it easier for the fighters to carry it and store it in armored vehicles. With a compact container RPO, which is shorter than the "Lynx" by more than half a meter, it turned out to be more convenient to handle in cramped urban areas.

In terms of its high-explosive action, the 93-mm RPO “Bumblebee” flamethrower rocket is not inferior to the 122-mm ammunition. Initially, flamethrowers entered service with the chemical defense forces, and a little later, motorized rifle units were also equipped with them. These flamethrowers proved to be very effective weapons for urban combat. This was shown by two Chechen campaigns, in which the Bumblebees were an indispensable weapon. The flamethrower was carried in containers of 2 pieces.

To use it, it was enough to set the distance on the sight, move the handle back, remove the safety lock and fire. After the shot, the shooter threw out a disposable container. As a rule, the tactics of using flamethrowers was simple: a group of infantrymen, by their actions, provoked the enemy to open fire. Another group "pressed" the militants to the floor with intense fire, and the flamethrowers deployed at an advantageous line almost destroyed several firing points with one salvo. Moreover, a simultaneous salvo from several "Bumblebees" could destroy low-rise buildings equipped by militants for firing points. Also, the great effectiveness of the flamethrower was noted during the fight against snipers. The militants, as a rule, used the tactics of mobile firing points - they fired and ran to another window. But if these two windows were in the same room, then a shot from the Bumblebee into the room was enough to suppress the sniper.

The Bumblebee flamethrower is similar in design to a conventional rocket-propelled grenade launcher. The main difference is in the rocket projectile with which it is loaded. When it hits a target, the Bumblebee hand-held flamethrower not only generates an explosive wave and fragments, but creates a volumetric explosion on the principle of vacuum ammunition. This quality made it an indispensable means of fighting the Mujahideen hiding in crevices or under jacked-up rock layers. The Bumblebee jet flamethrower is also suitable for destroying armored vehicles; the barothermal shock created during the explosion is capable of incapacitating the crew of an armored personnel carrier.

RPO "Bumblebee" consists of a disposable plastic tube-container into which a rocket is placed. The container is used to store the ammunition, direct it to the target and make a shot. This is a flanged pipe, it has a strap for ease of wearing, as well as knots for connecting two pipes into a pack. A simple optical sight with a scale of 600 meters, a folding pistol grip and a holding handle located on the front edge of the tube are fixed on the container. Inside the container is ammunition, which is an aluminum capsule filled with a special mixture, and an engine connected to the capsule with a collet. Gunpowder grenade engine. The grenade capsule is equipped with stabilizers that deploy after it flies out of the container. A shaped charge is located in front of the capsule, allowing the grenade to penetrate minor obstacles. Then, by detonating a small charge, an aerosol cloud is formed, which is ignited by a detonator. The volume of guaranteed damage when a capsule grenade is triggered is 80 cubic meters.

Since its inception, this weapon has been upgraded several times. In addition, several modifications of the flamethrower were initially developed, which differed in the type of ammunition. Now there are several modifications of RPO "Bumblebee".

RPO-A is the most common modification. Flamethrower equipped with a thermobaric grenade. It is used to defeat the enemy in shelters, it is also intended for military operations in populated areas, it can be used to destroy pillboxes and lightly armored vehicles. The distance of the most effective aimed shooting of the RPO-A is 200–300 meters, the maximum is up to a kilometer. Combat rate of fire - 2 rounds per minute. Combat weight - 11 kg.

RPO-Z is what is called a classic flamethrower with an incendiary grenade. It is used to create fires at enemy positions, in buildings, warehouses and other enemy facilities.

RPO-D - fires a smoke grenade and is used to create smoke screens, as well as smoke the enemy in shelters. Moreover, this smoke is so strong that the enemy, who did not have time to jump out of cover, dies of suffocation.

MPO-A (small-sized jet flamethrower) caliber 72.5 mm. A shortened version of the RPO-A, or, as it was also called in the troops, "Bearded". It is designed specifically for combat operations in urban environments. Can be equipped with incendiary and smoke grenades. Effective range up to 70 meters, maximum - 450 meters.

In the early 2000s, the modernized Shmel-M flamethrower, also known under two indices - RPO-M and RPO PDM-A (increased range and power) entered service with the Russian army. In the army, he received the nickname Priz. The weight of the flamethrower has been reduced to 8.8 kg, but the power of the projectile has been increased. The Bumblebee-M kit includes a reusable fire control system - a set of optical, night and thermal imaging sights that are removed after a shot and installed on the following containers. There is also a special sight, combined with the eyepieces of a conventional night vision sight. If "Bumblebee" was, in fact, a dynamo-reactive flamethrower, then "Bumblebee-M" became completely reactive, since the charge is thrown to the target by a jet engine without a powder charge. But the main thing in the updated flamethrower is a new fuel mixture, thanks to which the power of the ammunition has increased many times over. Now, according to experts, the charge of the RPO-M exceeds the 122-mm high-explosive projectile and is equal to the 152-mm projectile of the 2S19 MSTA-S self-propelled howitzer. The firing range has increased to 1700 meters.

Rocket infantry flamethrower "Bumblebee" (RPO-A)

Since the 1980s, rocket-propelled flamethrowers have become one of the varieties of hand-held recoilless weapons (essentially disposable multi-purpose grenade launchers). They inherited their name from jet flamethrowers used during the years of the first and second world wars. As you know, this type of wearable weapon, due to the short range of throwing fire mixture and its significant losses on the trajectory, has practically ceased to exist.

The creation in the 1980s of new explosives with significant high-explosive and thermal effects made it possible to create a hand-held recoilless weapon with multi-factor destructive ammunition. The first example of such a weapon in the USSR was the rocket-propelled infantry flamethrower RPO "Lynx". Subsequently, to replace him in the Instrument Design Bureau (KBG, Tula), a disposable flamethrower RPO "Shmel" was developed.

The Shmel flamethrower is used to increase the combat capabilities of ground forces units. It is designed to destroy live targets and fire weapons located in various protective structures, destroy fortifications, destroy vehicles and lightly armored vehicles, as well as create fires and smoke zones. The flamethrower is made with three variants of warheads: RPO-A - thermobaric, RPO-3 - incendiary and RPO-D - smoke. "Bumblebee" has high combat properties, is simple in design and reliable in operation.

In a disposable launcher (it also acts as a sealed container during storage and transportation), a capsule is placed in the warhead of the corresponding equipment and a powder engine. The launcher is made of fiberglass. It has a firing mechanism with a fuse and a mechanical sighting device, consisting of a front sight and a folding diopter sight adjustable in range. It is possible to equip the flamethrower with an optical sight. The RPO wearable set includes two equipped launchers, connected in a pack for carrying behind the back, with a total weight of 24 kg.

After departure from the launcher, the warhead flies by inertia. Stabilization of the flight of the warhead is provided by the stabilizer blades. The original scheme of the shot provides a minimum spread of initial velocities and high accuracy of fire. This provides a high probability of hitting an infantry fighting vehicle type target at a distance of 400 m. The flamethrower is fired from the shoulder. It is possible to use a flamethrower from rooms with a volume of more than 60 m3 in the presence of obstacles behind the weapon.

DATA FOR 2014 (standard replenishment)
"Shmel" RPO-A / RPO-D / RPO-Z

Reactive infantry flamethrower disposable. Design Bureau of Instrument Engineering (KBP, Tula) was developed. Development started in 1984 (in 1976 according to other data). Military tests of the RPO-A took place in Afghanistan in 1983-1984. ( ist - Monetchikov). Adopted by the chemical defense troops of the USSR SA in 1988 (later became a combined arms type of weapon). The shot (capsule) is stabilized in flight by a drop-down stabilizer imparting rotation. After using the TPK flamethrower, it cannot be reloaded and is thrown away. By default, the data of the RPO-A flamethrower.

Calculation- 1 person (pack of 2 RPO)

guidance- diopter sight with reticle. Optical sight OPO / OPO-1 or night sight PON can be used.

TTX sight PON:
- weight of the sight - 1.5 kg
- supply voltage - 1.5 volts
- consumption current - 100 mA
- magnification - 4x
- angle of view - 8 degrees.
- target identification range - 300 m (person) / 500 m (equipment)

Starting device- TPK disposable - material - fiberglass on the frame. It is permissible to shoot from rooms with a volume of 60 cubic meters or more. (45 cubic meters according to the instructions). The simulator 9F700-2 is used for training. The use of a flamethrower is possible from a pack (2 pcs).
Danger zone when shooting - rear sector 110 degrees, distance 47 m (according to instructions)
It is forbidden to use a flamethrower in open areas:
- prone - at a distance of more than 200 m
- from the knee - at a distance of more than 400 m
- standing - with an elevation angle of more than 45 degrees.

TTX flamethrower:
Caliber - 93 mm
Length - 920 mm

Flamethrower weight - 11 kg / 12 kg (RPO-D and RPO-Z)
Shot weight - 6.5 kg (with engine)
Pack weight - 22 kg

Maximum firing range - 1000 m (1200 m according to other data)

Sighting range:
- diopter sight - 600 m
- OPO sight - 450 m
- sight OPO-1 - 850 m

Range of a direct shot at a target with a height of 3 m - 200 m
Minimum firing range - 25 m (20 m according to the instructions)
Initial speed - 125 + - 5 m/s
Deviation - 0.7-1 m (at a distance of 200 m)

Transfer time to combat position - 30 sec
Temperature range of application - from -50 to +50 degrees C
Warranty period of storage - 10 years

Warhead types:
- RPO-A - explosive fuel-air mixture (thermobaric shot / volumetric explosion ammunition), burns without detonation, the power is equivalent to a high-explosive projectile of a 122 mm howitzer (105 mm artillery shells according to the developer - KBP). In the bow of the charge is a small shaped charge to destroy barriers. A distinctive feature of the shot is two red stripes on the end cap of the flamethrower.
Temperature after detonation of the fire mixture - up to 800 degrees C
The volume of damage during an explosion indoors - 80 cubic meters (overpressure up to 4-7 kg / sq. cm)
The affected area in an open area is 50 sq.m (pressure discharge up to 0.4-0.8 kg / sq.cm within a radius of 5 m)
Capsule weight - 2.1 kg

RPO-D - a variant of equipping the "Bumblebee" flamethrower with a smoke shot. Smoke suspension is unbearable by personnel without gas masks. A distinctive feature of the shot is one red stripe on the end cap of the flamethrower.
Capsule weight - 2.3 kg
The length of the smoke strip is 55-90 m (depending on the wind, the existence time is 1.2-2 minutes)

RPO-Z - a variant of equipping the "Bumblebee" flamethrower with an incendiary shot. Causes fires in open areas of terrain and territories. A distinctive feature of the shot is one yellow stripe on the end cap of the flamethrower.
Capsule weight - 2.3 kg
The volume of combustion in the room - 90-100 cubic meters for 5-7 seconds
Burning area on the ground - 300 sq.m / 20 fires

RPO-A flamethrower with a shot (http://ru.wikipedia.org).

RPO-A device (http://bratishka.ru):

Reactive infantry flamethrower RPO-A "Bumblebee" in the stowed position.

Reactive infantry flamethrower RPO-A "Bumblebee" in combat position, and a thermobaric shot assembled with a propellant charge next to it.

Caliber: 93 mm
Type: dynamoactive / recoilless
Length: 920 mm
The weight: 12 kg
Effective firing range: 200 m (1000 m maximum firing range)

The development of a one-time reactive (in fact, a dynamo-reactive, i.e. recoilless) flamethrower for the chemical troops of the Soviet army was started in 1984 at the Tula Instrument Design Bureau under the code designation "Bumblebee". In 1988, the chemical troops (RKhBZ troops) of the Soviet Army received a one-time reactive infantry flamethrower "Bumblebee" in three basic versions - RPO-A with a thermobaric warhead, RPO-Zs incendiary fire part and RPO-D with a smoke warhead (for instant setting smoke curtains). The main version of the "Bumblebee" was the RPO-A variant with a thermobaric warhead, otherwise called a volume explosion ammunition (Fuel-Air Explosive in English terminology, that is, a fuel-air explosive mixture). The Shmel grenade launchers are still in service with the Russian army and other law enforcement agencies.
The RPO-A warhead got its name "thermobaric" because of two main damaging factors that occur during the explosion of a sprayed cloud of a fuel-air mixture - a shock wave (high pressure zone) and high temperature in a burning cloud of the mixture (while the fire cloud itself exists for a very long time). "explosive" standards time - up to 0.3 - 0.4 seconds, which ensures a high incendiary effect). The principle of operation of a thermobaric warhead is to spray (using a small expelling charge) a fuel aerosol in the air and then ignite the resulting combustible cloud. Due to the fact that the explosion (combustion of the fuel-air mixture) occurs immediately in a significant volume (the diameter of the fire cloud when the RPO-A warhead is triggered can reach 6-7 meters), reliable destruction of living and lightly protected targets located inside and near the cloud is ensured, the destruction of buildings and etc. A cloud of fuel aerosol before ignition also tends to "leak" (penetrate) into windows, embrasures and crevices of shelters, trenches, ensuring, when it is ignited, hitting targets that are not in the "line of sight" zone from the point of impact and operation of the warhead. It should also be specially noted that the term "vacuum ammunition" sometimes used in relation to thermobaric ammunition is categorically incorrect and illiterate, because when a cloud of a fuel-air mixture is ignited, oxygen in the air (which makes up only about 20% of the composition of the atmosphere) reacts with the fuel and produces a large volume of incandescent combustion products, i.e. the pressure in the detonation zone increases sharply, and does not fall.
For RPO-A, the mass of the fuel mixture is approximately 2.2 kg, which, in terms of high-explosive action at the target, is equivalent to 6-7 kg of TNT or an explosion of a 107mm high-explosive artillery shell.

The rocket-propelled infantry flamethrower RPO-A "Bumblebee" consists of a disposable launcher in the form of a tube-barrel, factory-equipped with a feathered warhead and a propellant charge (engine) attached to it from behind. The launcher is equipped with folding handles for holding weapons, trigger and safety mechanisms and folding sights in the form of a fixed front sight and a folding rear sight with a set of diopter holes for different firing ranges. A grenade launcher shot is a thin-walled metal capsule filled with fuel, incendiary mixture or smoke mixture, with rear-mounted stabilizers made of thin spring steel, in the usual position "wrapped" around the capsule body. When fired, the powder charge located in the engine pushes the capsule out of the barrel, while the engine itself remains in the barrel, and after the capsule exits, it is ejected by residual pressure from the launch tube back several meters. After firing, the launch tube is ejected. For transportation, two launchers can, with the help of special fasteners, be combined into a single bale for carrying (a standard complete bale includes RDO-A and RPO-D, however, the troops often repack bales before going on a combat mission to ensure the desired configuration in combat conditions ).