by David Crane david@defensereview.com   KBP Instrument Design Bureau (Tula, Russia) displayed an updated/upgraded version of the of the RPO Shmel Infantry Rocket Flamethrower thermobaric weapon system (a rocket launcher that fires a thermobaric warhead) called the RPO Shmel-M (full designation: RPO Shmel-M PDM-A) at Eurosatory 2006. Adopted by the Russian Army in December 2003, the RPO Shmel-M is billed …

by David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com July 15, 2005 DefenseReview.com is going to be doing an article on enhanced-blast weapons/munitions, a.k.a. thermobaric weapons/munitions for general infantry and Special Operations (SPECOPS) use, particularly those being developed by Talley Defense, as soon as we can. In the past, we’ve discussed some of Talley Defense’s thermobaric work and the KBP RPO-A …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com The U.S. Army is developing new thermobaric munitions for their BDM(Bunker Defeat Munition) and M203 grenade launchers, and ultimately for the XM29/OICW(Objective Individual Combat Weapon) as well. This is a long time coming. The Russian army has been using thermobaric light support weapons since its Soviet/Iron Curtain days. The Russian RPO-A Shmel is a perfect example. …

Russia’s making some pretty neat stuff lately. DefRev found a page on Milparade’s site that highlights some of the new weaponry. Weapons featured are the GSh-18 pistol(which looks a lot like the Steyr M/S series pistols and holds 18 rounds of 9x19mm in the magazine), RMB-93 forward-cocking shotgun(with magazine tube ABOVE the barrel), AGS-30 automatic grenade launcher, RPO-A Shmel rocket …