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RWGŁ-3

type of non-lethal weapon

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 11, 2026
Entity authorityQ4207559
Source-derived summary

The RWGŁ-3 (Polish: Ręczna Wyrzutnia Granatów Łzawiących 3) is a non-lethal police rifle grenade launcher used to dispense tear gas, developed in the 1970s by a group of engineers from the Polish state-owned research institute OBR Radom with the purpose to quell protests against the communist government. In order to cut production costs, it was designed around AKM assault rifle components. After several years' worth operational use of expensive RWGŁ-1 and failed RWGŁ-2 development project, in 1978 it became a standard-issue grenade launcher of Milicja Obywatelska and is still in use by the current Policja.

Its regular ammunition is Polish UGŁ-200 canister with affecting mucous membranes CN gas, however usage of the East German RWK grenade was possible too.

In 1984, its capabilities were enhanced by the SZO-84 adapter, effectively converting it into a netgun.

Based on the RWGŁ-3, a heavier automatic grenade launcher called "AWGŁ-3" was developed to be mounted on UAZ-469 and STAR trucks.

Editorial summary

“RWGŁ-3” enters the record as type of non-lethal weapon. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what RWGŁ-3, type and non-lethal can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1978, 1984—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around RWGŁ-3, type and non-lethal.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“RWGŁ-3” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, RWGŁ-3, type and non-lethal provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4207559. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1978 and 1984.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “RWGŁ-3”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow RWGŁ-3 primary sources, RWGŁ-3 archive and RWGŁ-3 research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from RWGŁ-3” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.