The RPG-2 (Russian: РПГ-2, Ручной противотанковый гранатомёт, Ruchnoy Protivotankovy Granatomyot; English: "hand-held antitank grenade launcher") is a man-portable, shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon that was designed in the Soviet Union.

The RPG-2 offered better range and armor penetration, making it useful against late and post-World War II tanks, in contrast to the RPG-1 that had only marginal utility.

[5] Early testing revealed several minor problems, but, by the time these were being solved, 150 mm of penetration was no longer considered effective against modern tanks, even late-war designs like the Panther.

This slightly reduced the length compared to the RPG-1, made the entire assembly more robust, and allowed the use of conventional fore-and-aft sights.

Used against the U.S. military in the Vietnam War, its Vietnamese variants were called the B40 ("Bazooka, 40mm")[7] and B50, using the Chinese Type 50 HEAT warhead.

The center section of the tube has a thin wooden covering to protect the user from the heat generated by the grenade launch.

The propellant, consisting of granulated powder was in a rolled cardboard case treated with wax that had to be attached to the grenade before loading.

A tab on the body of the grenade indexes in a notch cut in the tube so that the primer in the propelling charge aligns with the firing pin and hammer mechanism.