RPO-A Shmel
The RPO-A Shmel[5][6] (Russian: реактивный пехотный огнемёт РПО-А «Шмель», lit. 'rocket-propelled infantry flamethrower "Bumblebee"') is a man-portable, single-use, rocket-assisted thermobaric weapon.[7][8] While its name directly translates to flamethrower (and it is classified as such in Russian military documents), the RPO-A Shmel is more accurately described as a thermobaric weapon.[9] 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.
Service history[edit]
RPO weapons have seen use by the Soviet Army in Afghanistan and by both the Russian invasion forces and Chechen resistance forces in the First and Second Chechen Wars. In September 1997, a large number of RPO were included in an arms airdrop to pro-Nguesso forces during the Second Republic of Congo Civil War.[25] On September 3, 2005, Russian forces used RPO-A Shmel as part of the effort to end the Beslan school siege.[26] On 9 August 2014, during the war in Donbas, the Ukrainian border checkpoint of Milove was attacked using RPO thermobaric weapons. The main building was hit by five incendiary rockets.[27] It was used by Indian Army in September 2016 for surgical strike against insurgents in Pakistan-administered Kashmir successfully. It was also used on 8 February 2017 in Ukraine, killing Donetsk People's Republic commander Mikhail "Givi" Tolstykh.[28] The munition has seen wide use by the Russian Federation in its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
On October 2, 2023, an attack by presumed PKK members was foiled in the Turkish capital city of Ankara.[29] One attacker was armed with an M4 Carbine and an RPO launcher.
On December 2, 2023, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced their first deployment of the weapon during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war to target a specialized Israeli force taking cover in a house in Jabalia, Northern Gaza.[30]
