On 2 October, Ukraine’s 28th Mechanised Brigade posted a video on their social media showing an RPG team firing an RPG-7 during a firefight. The warheads being fired from the RPG-7 were all outfitted with homemade fragmentation sleeves.
A fragmentation sleeve fits over a warhead and breaks apart when the warhead detonates. The explosion spreads the fragments increasing the warheads anti-personnel effect. The sleeve seen in the video appears to be made from a sheet of rolled metal with a base ring. Their design and construction appears to be quite uniform and similar examples of the fragmentation sleeves have been seen on several earlier occasions. The sheet appears to be several millimetres thick with a grid of cuts creating weaknesses for along which the metal can fragment.
Back in April a photograph featuring similar sleeves was shared, one PG-7 warhead has a sleeve running between the venturi/rocket nozzles and the base of warhead’s shaped charge while the other appears to have a sleeve which is wrapped around the lower part of the warhead. The venturi of this warhead isn’t visible.
[Correction/Update – 11/11/23: The rocket is in fact a PG-9/16 which is fired from SPG-9 recoilless guns. This suggests that fragmentation sleeves are also in use with the widely used SPG-9. See image below. – Thank you to Michael Crenshaw for his help IDing this munition.]
A Ukrainian combatant shared a short video featuring a PG-7 warhead with a fragmentation sleeve on 4 May. On 21 June, Ukrainian news outlet Новинарня published a video report featuring the 67th Mechanised Brigade in action near Kreminna. Members of the brigade’s 2nd mechanised battalion are seen with numerous PG-7s with fragmentation sleeves in the report. One Ukrainian combatant is seen preparing them for launch, attaching boosters to the rockets.
It would appear that the design of the sleeves has been shared between a number of fabricators as they have appeared in a number of areas and appear to a fairly standardised design. Images from the summer of 2023 show the sleeves added to a variety of different PG-7 warheads including a crate of six PG-7VLs.
In August, a Ukrainian individual made a call on social media for fabricators to produce base rings for sleeves. The post included a photograph of six PG-7M warheads with fragmentation sleeves.
The October video posted by the 28th Mechanised Brigade shows the rockets being fired at unseen targets in the distance. The RPG-gunner appears to be using the tactic of using the warhead’s maximum range self-destruct feature to detonate the warheads above Russian positions.
The warheads are fitted point-initiating base detonating fuzes which contain a pyrotechnic-based self-destruct mechanism which causes the warhead to detonate at its maximum range of approximately 950 metres. When the warhead detonates at the end of its flight it will shower what is below it with fragments from both the warhead and the fragmentation sleeve.
On 30 September, a PG-7 with a fragmentation sleeve was seen at the beginning of a video shared by the ‘Omega’, the Special Purpose Center of Ukraine’s National Guard. The characteristic shape of a sleved warhead can be seen just before a member of ‘Omega’ fired the RPG-7.
On 4 October, a Ukrainian combatant shared a photograph of a PG-7VL warhead with a fragmentation sleeve. The photo was shared in response to the earlier August photograph. This example, however, appears to be made from a mosaic of small metal squares rather than from a scored sheet of metal.
In terms of effectiveness the sleeves probably do not fragment uniformly along the cuts in the outer surface. However, the fragmentation effect of the sleeve is probably good enough for it’s intended purpose. It also remains unclear if the added mass and likely shifting of the warheads’ centre of gravity negatively effects its range and accuracy.
Fragmentation sleeves are definitely not a new innovation but they are a simple adaptation which can be made to PG-7 pattern warheads, which are predominantly designed for anti-armour roles, to improve their effectiveness against enemy personnel. While there are a number of warheads designed specifically for use against personnel these may not be as commonly available and as a result the Ukrainians have taken to improvising. We have already seen makeshift anti-personnel warheads made from fire extinguishers packed with explosive and the practice of simply taping shrapnel to the sides of standard PG-7 warheads.
06/11/23 – Update: An additional video featuring a PG-7VL warhead with a frag sleeve being used to tamp down a sandbag.
Update – 14/12/23: A video showing manufacture of various patterns of drone munitions was shown in a video posted by Ukrainian combatants. In it a munition with frag sleeve is seen.
Update – 15/1/24: Video dating from Spring 2023 shows members of the 28th Mechanised Brigade operating what appears to be a fragmentation sleeve (or perhaps an improvised warhead) being fired from m RPG-7.
Update – 25/03/24: A look at how some of the frag sleeves may be manufactured.
Update – 6/6/24: Some examples of well made, finely machined Ukrainian fragmentation sleeves.
The sleeves seen in the post above were sold by a company called ‘FixeStop‘ and are euphemistically marketed as ‘Men’s metal massage rollers: – for feet; – for legs’. Various sises between 100mm and 200mm of various weights are offered at prices ranging between 300 to 950 UAH.
Thank you to Ukraine Weapons Warfare, AFV Recognition, AbraxasSpa and Weapons Illustrated for their help tracking down some of the imagery used in this article/video.
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The Armourers Bench 