It was widely used in the 1973 Arab–Israeli War and remained a common weapon into the 2000s and early 2010s, being favoured by Iraqi insurgents during the American-led occupation.

When the pin is pulled, the "spoon" falls away, and when the grenade is thrown a spring deploys a four-panelled drogue parachute.

When it impacts or stops, inertia causes the weight to fly forward and hit the spring-loaded firing pin, which activates the primer detonator in the base.

The original RKG-3 used a basic shaped charge with a steel liner and could penetrate 125 millimetres (5 in) against Rolled Homogeneous Armor (RHA).

In the early 1970s the Soviet Army replaced this grenade with the RPG-18, but many other countries and guerrilla movements are still using the RKG-3 in their armed forces.

PJSC Mayak modifies the grenade[7] into the RKG 1600 by changing the fuze timing and adding 3D printed fins to stabilise its trajectory when dropped from a commercial drone.