Shoulder-fired missile

Shoulder-fired missile, shoulder-launched missile, man-portable missile, man-portable missile launcher, man-portable rocket launcher or rocket launcher, among other variants, are common slang terms to describe high-caliber shoulder-mounted weapons systems; that is, weapons firing large, heavy projectiles ("missiles"), typically using the backblast principle, which are small enough to be carried by a single person and fired while held on one's shoulder. The word "missile" in this context is used in its original broad sense of a heavy projectile, and encompasses all shells and rockets, guided or unguided (compare with guided missile). A more formal variant is simply shoulder-fired weapons system and the like.

Shoulder-launched weapons may be guided or unguided, and the systems can either be disposable, such as the Panzerfaust 1, M72 LAW, AT4, etc., or reusable, such as the Panzerfaust 2, Carl Gustaf 8.4 cm recoilless rifle, RPG-7, etc. Some systems are classified as semi-disposable, such as the Panzerfaust 3.

Slang nicknames

In many instances, the name bazooka is regularly used as an informal name for shoulder mounted "tube-like" launchers, stemming from the actual historical shoulder-fired missile-systems named such, the famous M1 Bazooka and M20 Super Bazooka man-portable rocket launchers of World War II.

The name rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is regularly used as an informal name for man-portable unguided rocket-launcher systems, a backronym from the Russian acronym РПГ (Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт, Ruchnoy Protivotankovy Granatomyot), meaning "handheld anti-tank grenade launcher", the Russian term for infantry-carried anti-tank weapons, not only encompassing rocket-systems (see the RPG-2 for example).

Description

Types

There are many types of shoulder-launched missile-weapons. Some systems are reloadable or semi-reusable, while others are single-use disposable systems, much in the same manner as a hand grenade. Ammunition traditionally use the backblast principle for propulsion, meaning that when fired, the propellant gases are expelled out of the back of the weapon to alleviate the reactional force exerted from the projectile moving forward.

If the weapon fires ammunition using fixed propellant charges, such as through cartridge cases on reloadable systems or a fixed container on singe-use systems, it is generally called a man-portable or shoulder-launched/fired recoilless rifle or recoilless gun, depending on if it uses a rifled or smoothbore barrel, essentially open-breech cannons.