Sina talks about the terrible weapons of Vietnam's Chemical Defense

China's Sina military website believes that the RPO-A Shmel personal vacuum thermobaric gun plays a very important role in modern warfare, allowing soldiers to deal with bunkers and solid fortifications, and damage enemy forces even when hiding in underground bunkers and solid fortifications.

In addition, the RPO-A Shmel gun can easily deal with mobile bunkers, which are the enemy's most solid tanks. Most targets on the battlefield can be defeated by the RPO-A Shmel despite its modest size. Therefore, the RPO-A Shmel thermobaric gun is favored by the armies of many countries.

Before Sima page talked about the power of RPO-A Shmel, this weapon appeared in a report broadcast by QPVN Channel with content talking about the silent achievements of the Chemical Corps during the years of construction and development.

Accordingly, RPO-A Shmel is currently equipped for the shooting teams of the Chemical Corps and this is also one of the hand-held infantry weapons with extremely great firepower that our army is equipped with. It is even superior to the RPG anti-tank guns.

The RPO Shmel is a single-use rocket launcher with incendiary, thermobaric or smoke warheads developed in 1984. It has been adopted into military service in three models and as they use incendiary (RPO-Z), thermobaric (RPO-A) or smoke (RPO-D) warheads.

Therefore, the forces equipped to use them are chemical troops, not regular infantry. Shmel is also used on a limited basis by special forces of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In addition to being used by the military, the gun is also exported. The Shmel is a disposable weapon, designed to have a recoilless effect when fired and has a rather unique structure. The barrel is made of fiberglass without a twist groove and the rocket is pre-loaded in the gun from the time of manufacture.

With 2.1 kg of thermobaric explosive fuel, the gun has the same destructive power as a 107 mm high-explosive artillery shell, but can create and maintain a fire area with extremely high temperature radiating around within a radius of more than 5 m longer than a high-explosive artillery shell, so it can create thicker and stronger shock waves as well as create a burning effect.

The RPO-A standard thermobaric warhead is effective in destroying targets in concealed areas such as buildings, caves, canyons... as well as being capable of destroying fortified fortifications, solid underground bunkers and easily destroying lightly armored targets.

Any living creature within the target's lethal radius that has not been burned by the heat will be subjected to the sudden pressure difference and loss of oxygen, leading to unconsciousness or death. Incendiary warheads will create a fire zone to burn the target.

Therefore, Western media also calls RPO-A the most advanced non-contact anti-personnel bullet produced by Russia.